Connected
by FelicityChaseGrangertheBabbler
Summary: Harley has been having a hard time. When his small town was attacked by extremes soldiers the fires and extreme heat killed his sister and now his mother is in the hospital dying. Will his friend the mechanic come and help him or will he be left to cope alone
1. Chapter 1

**Connected**

Harley had been having a tough year. First the extremist virus s had ruined his Christmas and after his meeting with "The Mechanic" he learned it had killed his 6-year-old sister and gravely injured his mother. Now in early march, his mother's condition was getting worse, Harley spent every day after school working on his inventions in the garage tricked out by Tony Stark. He had no more friends they all pitied him and Harley just wanted comfort not pity, no one understood him. Maybe if his dad was still with them his mother wouldn't have gotten hurt and his sister wouldn't have died.

So his life sucked, Harley was stuck with a sitter while his mom was in the hospitable but the sitter was an old man who didn't know how to take care of a ten year olds needs. Luckily Harley knew how to take care of himself as he usually did because his mother didn't have much time for him and his sister before the "incident" as Harley thought of it. While Harley was self immersed in his thoughts and work when he was tapped on the shoulder by his "sitter" who handed him the phone.

"Hello is this Harley,"

"Yes?"

" Kid, I am so sorry to tell you this but your mother isn't doing do well, you should get over here as soon as you can."

'Uh, this isn't good,' Harley thought, as he quickly gathered some money and headed towards the bus stop. He boarded the bus quickly told the driver to get him to the hospital. He sat down and took out the latest gadget he had been working on, he was trying to make a way to protect people from extreme heat like the extremis maybe retro reflectors of some kind, he wasn't sure yet but when the designs are done he would find a way to send them to mechanic so he could use them on his suit.

This led Harley to think about the extreme heats of the extremist attacks and how the extremist soldiers slowly turned up the heat and burnt others. He thought about how his six-year-old sister had been forced to watch this happen from her and her mothers hiding place in the diner. Thinking about this lead Harley to have a flashback, which was a newer experience for him, Harley had been running from the soldiers when he spotted his mother and sister. They saw Harley outside with the strange Man who he heard his mother identify as Tony Stark. When the extremist soldiers shot a ray near Harley and her Dora watch Lizzie couldn't stand it anymore. She yelled stop, and seeing an easy target the extremist soldier took a shot killing Lizzie and exposing her and Harley's mother to extreme heat, Harley watching all the while.

"Hey kid were here," the bus driver said looking over his shoulder.

Harley entered the looming building with a feeling of loathing, he hates how the adults here always pretend as if nothing is wrong and everything will be fine.

Just then someone interrupts his thoughts, a nurse named Janet, who greets him same as always "What are you building now, Harley," greets him instead somberly.

" You better get in their she's holding on just for you now go." Harley rushes up the familiar staircase with tears in his eyes. He walks into the hospital room where his mother, barely recognizable from her burns, is on the bed waiting for him.

"Harley," she manages to croak out, "Remember that I love you and I will always be with you," she states tearfully.

"I am not going to be with you much longer and I have found someone to love you almost as much as I have," she slowly drifts off to sleep holding her sons hand.

Harley sits there for the night, as it is a Friday. At around 2 AM, Harley wakes up to feel his mothers ice cold hand and seeing her wide open eyes left lifeless. Harley would never admit it but he ran out of the room crying for the doctor. Immediately hearing his pleas the doctors and nurses that have been caring for his mother rush over, Janet is the first to get there, she realizes there is no hope for Harley's mother and rushes to the young boy and wraps her arms around him shushing him,

"Harley, everything will be fine, your mother is with your sister now, she's happier and no longer in pain."

Harley shocked manages to choke out,

" I have no one nothings alright,"

and let's out some more sobs as the doctors around him take his mothers cold body away. He doesn't even notice because he's so grief stricken, finally Harley manages to cry himself to sleep in Janet's arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A month before

Tony had changed since Christmas one reason was because he realized what life was really about, and for that reason he abandoned his suits and destroyed them. That reason was Virginia "Pepper" Potts, his personal assistant for eleven years before becoming the CEO of Stark Industries, when Tony did not think he would live due to palladium poisoning. Tony had had Bruce Banner living with him in the tower now that the villa in Malibu had been destroyed. Bruce AKA the Hulk was the only Avenger Tony knew the whereabouts of. The two had talked often and when Tony and Pepper decided to move to the tower due to the fact that their villa was destroyed Tony asked Pepper if she would mind having Bruce live with them as well. Pepper had realized the good a friend like Bruce would be when she, Jarvis and Rhodey couldn't be there for Tony and immediately agreed. Now Bruce and Tony where in the lab whenever Pepper was asleep or resting and trying to find a way to flush extremis out of the bodies of those affected. They had finally realized due to pepper remembering how Killian had said extremis took place in the brain, and with some help from Jarvis they had found a small abnormality on Pepper's brain that had never been there before. Bruce studied the scans then made a chemical mix that successfully flushed the virus out of her body. Pepper was cured in early February and since then Tony had been wondering about Harley Keener.

Sure he had given the kid a bunch of toys and gadgets for his workshop but he still wondered what had happened to the kid. Tony found a way to contact the kid's mother to ask permission if he could check up on Harley legally. He had finally got up the nerve to call the diner he had found out she worked at, he was left waiting as the phone rang, when someone picked up he asked

"Hello, may I please speak to Mrs. Keener,"

"Oh, poor Julie, so sad, her girl dead and her in the hospital since the attacks."

Tony was nothing less than shocked the kid didn't deserve anything like this and it was Tony's fault. His fault, the kid's sister was dead and his fault that the mother was in the hospital.

"Well sorry I can't help you, "Thank you anyway," Tony responded (see he has changed).

He hung up and realized he would have to tell Pepper what had really happened last Christmas.

As soon as Pepper, returned home from work and Tony greeted her with a cup of coffee, she grew suspicious.

"Tony, what's wrong, your usually in the lab with Bruce till dinner?"

"Well Bruce isn't here he went to go visit an old colleague."

"Tony?"

"Fine, it's time I told you what happened during Christmas."

Pepper was surprised Tony usually told her everything she had asked him many times over the last few months about what had happened an the usually talkative Tony just wouldn't talk about it. Pepper grabbed the coffee cup and plopped onto the couch and with that Tony began his story. Pepper was astounded, this was so unlike Tony to admit he needed help and then to get it from a ten-year-old boy. So when Tony told Pepper about getting permission to check up on Harley and finding out his mom ended up in the hospital because of the extremis attack brought tears to her eyes. She saw that more than anything Tony wanted to help this kid.

"So Pep, I'm asking permission to go to visit Harley's mom and see how she is doing I will ask her permission about checking up on Harley."

After a quick tears nod and hug Pepper told Tony off for not telling her sooner before arranging Happy to go to Tennessee with Tony on the jet. As soon as Tony got there he had Happy drive him to the hospital quick as possible. When he got there he walked to the front desk where a middle aged African American nurse, identified by the pin on her shirt as Janet looked up as he entered. In shock on seeing the billionaire at the small hospital she managed to squeak out "How may I help you?"

"May I speak to Julie Keener?"

Tony enquired politely (shocking right?). The nurse still blinking and pinching herself every other minute to make sure this wasn't just a dream, led Tony to the room Mrs. Keener was situated in.

"Julie," said as she knocked politely before entering,

"You have a guest."

Mrs. Keener managed to sit up and looked at the door, expecting Harley, she was shocked to see the man at the door.

It was Tony Stark, the multimillionaire, better known as Iron Man. She had known that Tony had met Harley and camped out in his garage and had gave Harley new tools as a thank you gift but he thought that was the extent of it.

"Hi Mrs. Keener, My name is Tony Stark, how are you doing?"

She snapped out of her shock,

"I'm doing ok, thank you for asking, thank you for the tools, Harley loves them."

"Actually, that's why I'm here how is he doing?"

Now Mrs. Keener was really shocked Tony Stark was not known for his manners. "Well, he's not doing so well, Lizzie is gone and I won't be here much longer, and we have no other family. Harley is terrified, he feels so alone."

Now Tony was shocked, the poor kid didn't deserve any of this.

"Well what can I do to help?"

"Just make sure he's happy, get him a nice family to stay with."

"I think I can take care of that, let me just make some phone calls."

"Oh, Thank you Mr. Stark, Thank you so much."

Tony had had and idea, a crazy idea, but a good one.

"Jarvis, call Pep."

When Tony explained the situation to Pepper, she immediately started crying.

" Oh, poor boy, nobody deserves that, what are you going to do Tony?"

" Well, Pepper, I was thinking, how would you like to be a mom to a ten year old genius."

" What?'

"I'm gonna adopt the kid, he's changed me, and now he needs me."

" Tony, are you sure about this?"

" I know what the kids going through, it's hard to lose the only person who cares about you, and I went through that, when I lost my mom."

"Well then Tony, I would be happy to be his mom."

"Thank you, Pep, I love you"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

With that Tony hung up and walked back into the hospital room.

"Well, Mrs. Keener,"

"It's Julie, please,"

"Well, I think I have found the perfect family for Harley. They are financially well off. They are very caring and the Man is into mechanics and his girlfriend is very caring and motherly."

"Well would you give me their name, I would like to contact them."

"Well, Julie, I would give the info to you but you have no need you are talking to one of them right now."

"You want to adopt my Harley?"

" Harley, is a great kid, and he deserves a great family, and I hope we can love him as much as you do."

"Well, then I couldn't think of anyone better to take care of my son. Let me

contact my lawyer and legalize this."

"And I will fly Pepper down here right now, she needs to be here for this

she is the one to go to for legal matter."

Tony made a few more calls and a few hours later, Pepper was there talking to Mrs. Keener, who was smiling with tears in her eyes.

" Thank you, thank you so much, I know Harley will be happy with you.

I couldn't wish for anything better for my son. "

Over the next month Tony started designing a room for Harley, he also redesigned all the gadgets he had made for Harley and cleared out one of the labs and decorated it with the avenger running around it. This was to be Harley's lab, Tony had come up with the idea but Pepper had made sure it was safe and easy to operate for a kid Harley's age. Designing Harley's room hadn't been hard, Tony had designed floors for all the Avengers (except Clint and Natasha who would share a floor.) The only avenger who had moved back in with him was Bruce but Tony regularly hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D. to check up on his coworkers (he would never admit to having friends and the others wouldn't say they were friends with him, except Bruce and Thor).

Tony had heard about the incident in Greenwich with Thor, he and Bruce dove into the Norse mythology books after that to learn more about the event called the convergence. They also studied more of the theories about other dimensions, which they knew to exist as the nine realms. Cap, Natasha and Clint were with S.H.I.E.L.D in D.C. doing spywork, which Tony found funny as Cap may have spy like moves but he was horrible at being covert and lying.

Around Mid March, Tony had gotten a call from the hospital, giving him the bad news. Around one A.M. that morning Julie Keener had passed away. Tony quickly called Pepper and told her the new before boarding his private jet to go to Tennessee for the funeral and to pick up Harley.

Tony, in a black suit and tie, got out of his jet and into a car and started driving to the hospital. He needed to be there for Harley, the boy had no one to turn to. As Tony pulled up to the hospital and rushed up to the room where Harley was waiting for him he heard the social worker talking to Harley.

"Your Mom had known she was going, so she found a family, that wanted you, you'll like them a lot."

" I don't want a new family, I want my mom."

" I'm sorry Harley, but your mom is gone, she's in heaven with your sister,

She's not in pain anymore. Now are you ready to meet you new family."

" Yeah, sure, whatever."

The door creaked open, Tony got up took off his glasses, and kneeled down in front of Harley.

"Hey Kiddo, I guess you were right, we are connected."

Harley looked at him wide eyed, and then suddenly ran to Tony and hugged him crying into his shoulders. Tony awkwardly wrapped his arms around the kid.

" Hey, I might be new to this whole parenting thing but you need to know that I'm here for you. Now we are going to go say goodbye to your mom, I know it's hard. I lost my parents too. But your mom wouldn't want you to be this sad. You ready?"

"I guess."

"Good, lets go."

Tony took Harley to the car and together they drived silently to the funeral. Tony actually had tears in his eyes. Harley couldn't stop sobbing. After saying goodbye to all the mourners, they drove back to Harley's home.

" Hey Kid, you need to listen to me now, ok?"

" Ok"

" Tomorrow Morning, you and I will take the plane back to New York, Stark

Tower is all ready for you. Me and my girlfriend Pepper are going to be your

new guardians. You are going to love it. So lets get you packed."

Tony walked with Harley to his room and got all his clothes packed, some old keepsakes, science experiments, family albums, slowly they went through the house and gathered everything Harley wanted to bring with him. Finally they reached the garage. As Harley started packing his tools, Tony reached out and stopped him.

" You won't be needing those"

" Why not?"

"You'll see when we get to your new home."

"Ugh, Ok."

"Now lets go say goodbye to your friends."

Tony drove Harley to all of his friend's houses, where he told each of them he was moving to New York with his new family. Tony and Harley loaded his stuff into the car and drove to the airport where Happy was waiting for them with the private jet.

"Hey kid, I'm Happy, Pepper and Tony's bodyguard, guess that means I'm yours too."

"Mm Harley, nice to meet you."

Happy helped Harley into the plane and Tony came and sat down with him. Harley made himself comfy leaning into Tony. Before bursting into tears and crying his self to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Flying AirStark never took very long, Tony's plane was one of the fastest in the world. Harley slept peacefully, probably for the first time in a while. _The poor kid didn't deserve this,_ Tony thought, _nobody does._ _I owe it to him to make him feel better, help him get through this._ Tony woke Harley up as the plane descended, when they landed Happy picked Harley's stuff up and brought it outside. When they walked out they saw several people waiting for them.

"This is my family Harley. Meet my girlfriend Pepper, my best friend Rhodey, you already met Happy, and this is my Science Bro, Bruce," Tony said.

Rhodey was a tall African American man, he wore a military uniform but was clearly smiling. Bruce was an average sized man, with brown eyes rimmed with glasses and curly hair, he looked very nice. Pepper was a strawberry blonde woman, with lots of laugh lines, she was tall and very pretty. "Hey Harley, it's so nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you. Thank you so much for helping Tony during Christmas." Just as Pepper finished her sentence Harley had a flashback, He was back in his house with his potato gun. He kept hearing thumping noises in the garage, so he loaded his gun and crept out quietly, he walked in holding his gun and saw Ironman sitting on his couch and a guy using his tools to repair the suit! The setting changed, a goon was holding Harley and the man was trying to save him. It was really scary, but he threw the flash bomb and scared the man, saving himself.

"Harley, hey kiddo, snap out of it!" Tony said shaking the little boy.

"What's wrong sweetheart was it something I said?" Pepper asked her eyebrows creasing in concern.

"It looked like a panic attack," Bruce replied to her, "something must have happened to set it off."

"Kid, why didn't you tell me, remember I had them too, Harley. Everything is alright now though come here."

Harley snapped out of his petrified state and ran to Tony.

"It was really scary, I saw that big guy who was holding me, when I threw the bully bomb at him."

"Kid, How long have you been having flashbacks for?"

"Since right after the attack, the first time I heard about Lizzie's death and my mom's hospitalization."

"Hey, we'll help you through this, I helped Tony through his attacks and from what I understand you did too. You are part of this family, we are with you in this and everything after."

"And that was another one of Pep's Peps, thank you for listening to Stark Radio." Tony said in his best radio talk show voice, making Harley laugh.

"Now let's head home," Tony said taking Harley's hand and heading to the car. Rhodey went off in his own car after shaking Harley's hand, while the rest piled into the car and headed home to Stark Tower.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Welcome to Stark Tower, Master Harley, it is nice to finally meet you."

Harley jumped at the voice coming out of nowhere, "Who was that?"

"That was Jarvis, my AI, say hi Jarvis," Tony said smirking at his greatest creation.

"Hello again, Master Harley," Jarvis reapeated.

"Now Jarv, can you take us up to the common floor, I would like to show Harley around."

The family headed up to the common floor, it was an area with a gym, entertainment center, a kitchen, and dining area. There was also a huge human shaped pit in the floor.

"What is that pit in the floor?" Harley asked curious.

"That my friend is a memento courtesy of Loki and the big green guy over here," Tony said pointing at Bruce.

"Wait, You're the Hulk, that's so cool, I bet Loki took a real beating." Harley said jumping up and down in excitement.

"Are you bullet proof, I bet you are invulnerable, does Hulk like Tony, or does he find him super annoying?" Harley said starting up again.

"This is like when he found out I was Ironman," Tony said groaning, then turning to Harley, "If you he's cool, Rhodey is WarMachine."

"Nope, Hulk is cooler, he turn's green and smashes stuff," Harley smirked.

"Yes, I am Hulk, and I am invulnerable and me and the Hulk like Tony, but I find him annoying and Hulk doesn't," Bruce said blushingly.

"Anyway I'm gonna head down to the Lab," Bruce left and left the new family alone.

"Well Harley, you ready for the grand tour?" Tony asked.

"Not the whole tower, Tony, just the housing floors, Harley must be tired and it is getting late," Pepper scolded.

"Yes, Pepper," Tony replied mockingly, "First to the Avengers floors."

They got into the elevator and came into a room that looked straight out of the Forties. It had an old fashioned television that worked like a new one, a kitchen with appliances from the forties, and some comfy arm chairs in navy blue. There were pictures of the Howling Commandos, and 1940's Brooklyn as wallpaper. Cap would feel at home here.

"Does Cap live here?"

"Nope, the Capsicle is in D.C. right now doing some work for S.H.I.E.L.D. but Stark Tower is going to become Avengers Tower soon and will have a home for all the Avengers. Now moving on, this is the floor for Natashalie and Legolas."

"He means Black Widow and Hawkeye, they also work for S.H.I.E.L.D. who are a security network, which Tony failed to mention," Pepper filled Harley in.

The floor had Purple and Black couches and wallpaper, a small kitchen, some workout gear, and it seemed a gun and Archery range. This was obviously a perfect space to accommodate spies like Hawkeye and Black Widow. The elevator moved on to a floor with a small kitchen, purple fuzzy couches, green walls and a large room that seemed to be indestructible. It was obviously Bruce's floor.

"Why did you need that room?" Harley questioned.

"That is for when Bruce needs to Hulk out and wants to get out of everyone's way," Tony replied.

"Moving on to Point Break's floor," Harley guessed that meant Thor as he was the only Avenger beside Tony left.

Thor's floor, was more accuratley a palace, it had no kitchen or electronics, but it had the comfiest red couches, gold flooring and walls, and lots of room for a big guy like Thor to get around. The elevator moved up, this last floor was obviously Tony's and Pepper's, it had the most modern appliances, several bedrooms, red couches and cream carpets in the living area and a huge window overlooking New York.

"Welcome home, Harley, this floor is mine, Pepper's and your's. You get your own room just across the hall from Pepper's. C'mon let's go see it, we put a lot of hard work into it," Tony said smiling.

The family walked into one of the bedrooms, it had a bed made out of old tools and red and gold covers, a worktable with pen and papers, , it had the Avenger's on his wallpaper and an arc reactor lamp on his bedside table.

"Thanks, thank you so much, I love it," Harley said, jumping Tony and giving him a hug. The genius was smiling, happy to have made his new charge happy.

"Now Harley, we will go over rules tomorrow, but for now you can not go to any floor but the common floor and here without permission. If you need anything tonight you come get me or Tony, or tell Jarvis," Pepper said hugging the boy, tucking him in and leaving the room and shutting the light.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Apologies for any grammar mistakes and bad writing. I also don't own any of the characters marvel does. Sorry that I suck at fluff. This is just a fanfiction but I still hate others copying my ideas. I am putting all my other fics on hold to finish this one.**

Tony and Pepper quietly shut the door and headed back down to the common floor. They met with Bruce and Rhodey, who were more like brothers to Tony than friends. They plopped themselves down on the couch and took a while to notice that the two men were not staring at them and not the T.V.

Rhodey broke the silence, "So…. How do you think it's going?"

Bruce joined in, "He seems like a sweet kid Tony, if I didn't know better I think he could actually be yours and Peppers kid. I mean he has that twinkle just like yours and a spark of genius too. Though I don't want him in the lab with us, he could get hurt with all my chemicals and I have hulked out before."

"Bruce it will be fine, and the kid is pretty much a genius. He helped me rebuild the suit when it crashed in Tennessee. I guess he does remind me of me, he's got the smarts and the looks."

Rhodey snarked back, "but unlike you he is somewhat polite, I thought you said he was sarcastic?"

"The kid is but he must still be shocked after his mother's recent death, I guess that could do that to someone," Bruce said, thinking about watching his mothers own death, (it's Canon read the comics).

"This is exactly why I go to you to talk about my problems Brucey, how do you know so much about that?"

"I studied the mind a lot when I was learning to meditate, but back to the original subject, anyway how do you think the media will react, and what about Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. what will happen with them?"

Pepper took this one, "We'll keep him away from the media as long as possible and if one person finds out we will lie till he is comfortable by calling him my nephew, but we should tell Fury, and Bruce he will not be in the lab, Tony has converted one of the labs with my help to make it child safe. I think Harley will love it. And I know everything will go great."

Everyone looked a bit more optimistic with that and just when Tony was about to thank Pepper in his radio talk show voice for one of her Peps pep, she jumped on him and covered his mouth. The four talked some more, as bothered as Tony and Pepper were about the media finding out about Harley. They had decided to sit Harley down tomorrow and talk about this as well as school options for next year but that could wait, they would have Tony and Bruce teach Science and Math, Pepper would help with English and History and he would be good for the rest of the year. It was absurd to start a new school in March. Also he would talk to fury that morning and see what would happen. Harley would get a tour of the rest of the tower as well and Pepper would bring him shopping for some new clothes and toys, he had been having a growth spurt but his mom was in no shape to bring him shopping at the time.

Rhodey said he would stop by as often as possible and he was always on call for them. Bruce agreed to help teach, and he would try to be more careful about Hulking out, even though Tony and pepper didn't ask him too. He just wanted this child to be happy, he knew he and Tony didn't have happy childhoods and he wanted this kids to be different. It was a lot to think about but he would do it for Tony and Pepper, hopefully this would all turn out great.

Everyone had headed to bed, and it seemed it would be a peaceful night, but just then Jarvis woke Tony up. "Sir, you might want to know it seems Master Harley is having a nightmare, you might want to check on him." Tony immediately jumped out of bed careful not to rouse Pepper and headed to Harley's room. The little boy was shaking around in his sleep, he was murmuring. Tony recognized the symptoms, poor Harley had PTSD just like he had after New York and Afghanistan. He still had the occasional flashback but not as bad as he used to. He knelt over Harley and tried to shake him awake.

"Hey kid, wake up, it's ok, your safe, your fine, wake up, c'mon Harley, wake up!"

"No, mom! Lizzie! You can't die, I need you!" Harley cried out in his sleep.

"C'mon kid, wake up!"

"Huh, Tony? What's going on? Why you in my room?"

"Jarvis told me you were having a nightmare, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's just a bit weird and sudden, after I met you, I heard mom was hospitalized and Lizzie had died and then you come and my mom died and now I'm here!" Harley could barely finish his sentence he burst out crying. Tony brought the little boy toward him and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Hey, I promise everything will be fine. Now look, whenever you have a nightmare, you come find me or Pepper and we will help you. I used to have those nightmares too! My parents died when I was young and I was all alone, but I promise you will never have to be, Ok?"

"Fine, but can you stay here until I fall asleep?"

"Sure thing kid, now get some sleep!"

Tony shut the light back off, and sat at Harley's desk chair just watching and waiting, he was lulled to sleep himself by Harley's soft snores and the flickering of the city lights out the window. That's how Pepper found them in the morning, she immediately took a picture with her phone before heading to the kitchen to prepare some food.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**(In this chapter you will notice small crossovers with Spiderman, the other Avengers and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D in later chapters characters from these shows and movies will be brought in.)**

When Harley woke up the next morning he quickly got dressed and headed down to the common floor where he was told they usually eat meals. He was greeted good morning by Bruce who had a friendly smile for him. Pepper was flipping pancakes over the stove with the help of a robot. Just then Tony walked in holding a mug of coffee to see Harley open mouthed at the robot flipping pancakes.

"Morning kiddo, have you met Dum-E yet? He was my first robot, I built him when I was around 18. Any way Pep, what's the plan for today? Oh, Rhodey left, he had to head back to the army base."

Just as Tony finished telling Pepper that, Dum-E had put down the spatula and held out his arm to Harley, who shook it before inspecting the robot. "Wow, you built this when you were 18, that pulley system controlling his arm is awesome, but I would have used a longer cable and his arm should be able to bend more, why didn't you do that? What else does he do, was he hard to program, or I guess he wasn't because nothing is too hard for Tony Stark, right?"

Bruce's mouth dropped, no one usually was that straight up to Tony, except maybe Pepper, and he had heard Fury and the other avengers talk to Tony like that, but a ten year old? Before Tony could send a snarky comment back, Harley asked him some programming questions, how many Megabytes was Jarvis? Or why isn't Dum-E able to rotate better, shouldn't he have a rotor of sorts? Is he powered by battery or by engine? Bruce could tell Tony was right the kid was a genius, he would have no trouble grasping the math and science he would have to teach him. Then Pepper and Dum-E served the pancakes, and Harley and Tony sat down.

"Harley, I'm sure Tony will answer you questions later but we won't be talking mechanics at the table. And yes, Tony, I was aware that Rhodey left for the airbase, but I made sure to send him that pic I got of you and Harley asleep in his room!" Here Pepper and Bruce were smirking, but Harley blushed terribly.

"Really Pepper! Its just Harley had a nightmare so Jarv notified me, and I wanted to stay with him till I was sure he wouldn't wake up again!"

"Sorry Tony, that's sweet, next time tell me so I won't wake up to find the bed empty again and worry. Anyway the plan is I will take Harley shopping for some new clothes and toys, I don't think he has had a chance to get a new set of clothes since his mom was put in the hos…" Pepper paused not wanting to bring up fresh memories, "but we also need to talk about rules and schooling, Bruce don't just leave yet, you are part of this family too!"

Bruce had gotten up and started to leave the table, not wanting to intrude on the new family. Pepper waited until they all finished eating, and they had a normal breakfast conversation while they ate. Pepper was asked about work, Harley was asked how he slept and how he liked his new room. Tony and Bruce talked about their latest experiment and Pepper and Harley had lots of questions. Tony was glad to see Harley was getting used to his new home so quickly, the pain would never leave but he could be happy. The kid was at least curious again, and Tony was actually not offended when he snarked back at him this morning but he was proud that Harley was getting back to normal. Everyone moved to the couch to start their conversation.

"Well Harley, I'm glad to see you are adjusting, but it's time to talk about the rules and schooling. I'll start with schooling, I will be teaching History and English, Bruce will be teaching science and Tony will help you with math, does that sound good?"

"It sounds great, thank you so much Pepper!" Harley replied jumping up and down in anticipation.

"Well then now for rules, first rule is school work must be completed before anything else is done, that doesn't include eating and you will have breaks to play, Ok?"

"Sounds fine."

"Next, the media constantly follows me and Tony, and he also has enemies as Ironman, so no leaving the tower on your own without adult supervision, also no leaving the living floors or going anywhere in the tower without letting us know where we are. I think you know what kind of rules usually hold other wise these just specially apply to our situation, but others include no cooking your own food with out supervision, no misbehaving or you will be punished and you must listen to all our rules. That's it for me, Tony, Bruce, anything to add?"

"Harley, as Tony told you, I am the Hulk, that means when I become the Hulk there is no Bruce and I can be dangerous, the situations are mostly controlled now, but if you see me turning any shade of green get away as soon as possible and find Tony or Pepper. Ok?"

"I'm not scared, I saw you save Tony on T.V. the Hulk must at least a little a bit good, right?"

"He sure is kid, any way, I have a surprise for you, Bruce, Pep, lets go!"

Tony brought them all into the elevator and asked Jarvis to bring them up to the R&amp;D floors (labs). As Tony escorted Harley into the room, he was surprised to see a lab with kid sized tools, stools, stands, and a robot too. The walls had decals of the avengers stomping around, there was a desk for work, and a recreation of his potato gun he originally used when he met Tony, as well as a holographic table for project design that Tony promised to show him how to work.

"This here is Butterfingers, he will be your lab assistant, Jarvis is also installed here and can help you out as well, but you have to be careful and lab privileges can be taken away as punishment."

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" Harley was bouncing around and ran to Tony and Pepper and gave them huge hugs.

"Bruce and I have our own labs but you are not allowed in there without permission or without one of us there, got it?"

"That's ok! I have my own lab, how cool is that?" He turned to Pepper expectantly.

"It's awesome Harley, just like you! You can come back here later, Tony will show you how to work all these gadgets later, but know we have to get you some new clothes and toys, go get some shoes on and meet me in the living room on our floor." Harley rushed to the elevator to get ready.

"Do you think we're doing well Pepper? Do you think he'll like it here?"

"You were amazing with him Tony, the boy idolizes you, and it's me that he'll have trouble getting used to!"

"You? Pep, he already loves you, you should have seen his face light up when you offered to take him shopping, I think he is more excited about you teaching him English than me and Bruce teaching him anything else!"

"Hmm, Hmm! I'm just going to go now."

The couple had forgotten Bruce was there but Tony pulled him in for a hug before they all headed upstairs. Tony called Happy to drive Harley and Pepper around, and Harley was waiting for them when they got upstairs, he was impatient and a bit excited. "What took so long?" He practically dragged Pepper and Happy out the door. Both of them with smiles on their faces, Bruce turned to Tony smirking, "You my friend are in way over you head!" Tony just laughed then headed upstairs to call Fury.

Tony went to his private lab where he usually held Video Conferences with Fury or Rhodey. Recently S.H.I.E.L.D had asked him to develop a new line of helicarriers that used arc reactor tech to power them. The plans were going well and the launch would be in late May. He had scheduled a conference with Fury anyway so he would just add this fact in. Tony was not exactly sure how Fury would take it but he knew he wasn't going to let S.H.I.E.L.D get close to Harley. They needed to be notified anyway. Tony dialed S.H.I.E.L.D's number and was put on with Fury. As the face of the bald, eypatched man appeared on the screen he looked frustrated with Tony.

"Stark! What the hell were you thinking adopting that damn kid!" barked Fury.

"Um… I don't think it mattered to you, Nicky! But well we're on the subject I want to tell you about the situation. Harley is under me and Pepper's guardianship. I met him in Tennessee during the whole event with extremis. He helped me with the suit but his sister was killed and his mom injured. When she died last week from her injuries, I went to get Harley and there is nothing you can do about it."

"About that, we did a background check on this kid. He is a F*#*#** genius. How you going to school him? In the middle of the year?"

"Um.. Harley still needs to adjust but Pepper will teach him English and History and Bruce and I have Science and Math. Next year he should be able to go to a real school."

"Well then, the helicarriers are being built, I want you down here for a few hours next week to get a look and brief my engineers on the tech."

"Yeah, yeah. Later!"

"Wait, Stark you should know that recently that a team of mine has uncovered a project called centipede. The tech combines extremis, gamma radiation, alien tech and a super serum. It almost caused an explosion is Los Angeles and is literally a time bomb once attached to a human. I am sending samples to you and Banner. You are our experts on Gamma and Extremis."

"Sure, but can I get in contact with this team, maybe we can compare notes?"

"Maybe at a later date, this is one of our top teams, they are very busy. That will be all."

Fury shut off the Video Conference and Tony decided to spend time with his science bro. He told Bruce all about the conversation with Fury, but both thought it was peculiar they couldn't see this team that was in charge of the centipede investigation. They decided they were probably busy with other things. Tony then got to work on some blueprints for the company and Bruce was checking out some other things for Fury he had been asked to work on Doctor Connors formula to get a better look at things. The two Science Bros conversed on what happened


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Meanwhile, Pepper and Harley where in times square, where it would be easiest to blend in with the crowd. Pepper had only permitted Happy to come with them as other guards would attract too much security. Harley had loved everything, the bustle, the giant screens. This was his first day in New York and he loved it… he only wished his mom and Lizzie were here to see it too. Pepper seeing the tears in his eyes pulled him to Toys R Us to see the giant Ferris wheel and to buy toys, Harley had gotten enough clothes and now she knew his taste she could get them without him.

As they entered the shop, Harley was amazed. Immediately a grin grew on his face as he gripped Pepper's hand tightly and pulled her to the Avenger's merchandise. Laughing they bought tons of Ironman, Hulk and Cap merchandise, the Cap stuff was to irritate Tony. Together they got on to the Ferris wheel, Happy standing guard as they rode on happily. After they got off Harley pulled Pepper back into the street to explore, not seeing a flash go off behind them.

After quickly picking up some Pizza, Harley and Pepper headed back to the tower where the young boy was sent straight to bed. Tony, Pepper and Bruce all stayed awake a little longer talking. Pepper was clued in on the new things S.H.I.E.L.D. had them working on. After the whole extremis fiasco she and Tony told each other everything (well mostly). Soon after that though drowsiness set in, Bruce headed to bed while Pepper and Tony checked on Harley. The little boy had been so exhausted he hadn't even changed into Pajama's. Tony removed his shoes and socks then Pepper tucked him into the blanket and kissed him on the forehead. Silently both walked out of the room and closed the door before collapsing on their own bed.

…..

The next morning Pepper and Tony were woken as usual by Jarvis, but walking outside their room they were shocked to see Happy here earlier then usual. A quick-shared look let them both know they were thinking the same thing. Either there was a security problem or the press had found out about Harley. Pepper motioned for Happy to sit down, before running to wake up Harley. Tony meanwhile decided to find out if his theory was correct. "J pulls up this morning's tabloids!"

One quick look was enough, all over were pictures of Pepper and Harley in times square, them entering the tower, even some of them in Tennessee. Seeing the anger on Tony's face, Happy gestured to the window. Tony rushed over and looking out saw an endless mob of reporters and news vans. Turning back to Happy he saw Pepper rushing over and peering out the window to be shocked over what she saw. Harley sleepily rubbing his eyes muttered the first words.

"Wha's going on?"

"Um, as we told you before kiddo, Pepper and I are very famous."

"Yeah, that's why Happy comes with us everywhere."

"Not everywhere I only come some places," snorted the Bodyguard.

"Still, yesterday when we were out it seems that some photographers caught photos of us."

"So?" Harley asked puzzled with what Pepper was saying.

" The fact we have a kid living with us will cause a lot of chaos."

Pepper explained as she pulled him over to the window, the little boy was shocked to see what was happening outside. Meanwhile Tony had Happy pulled over and both were trying to find a way to get rid of all the paparazzi. Some lawyers and favors were called in, but nothing was budging the reporters. Pepper was still explaining to Harley what would happen and speculation that would pop up, of Tony being his father or him being their secret child, which had the boy really confused. Still trying to process this, he didn't realize what that Pepper was heading to the elevator which neither Tony or Happy noticed as well.

Pepper having realized that neither legal action nor bodyguards would get them to budge had decided to give them bigger news. She headed down to the labs where with her permission, Tony had rebuilt one suit for emergencies. Using her access code to Jarvis she entered the suit and wobbly blast off to the front of the tower. The paparazzi shocked to see Ironman for the first time in a few months started taking pictures. What really shocked them is when he started to raise the mask.

"Stark!" Fury's voice shouted from the video screen, making Happy and Tony jump.

"I'm a bit busy right now!"

"Not too busy for this!"

"Tony he's right you'll want to see this!" said Harley who had been staring out the window.

Tony and Happy made their way to the window, where they along with Harley watched as the flying Ironman suit opened it's helmet to reveal Pepper. Tony's face twisted into a grin as he realized what she was doing.

"It's not Stark! It's Potts!"

"Quiet!"

"Ms. Potts, why are you in the suit?"

" Who is the boy spotted with you in times square?"

"Is he your son?"

"Quiet!" Pepper tried again sending a blast onto the sidewalk scaring the reporters into silence.

"You are to leave aside the business with the boy! He is here under the protection of Tony Stark and I and no, he is neither of our children just staying with us for a short time. Now goodbye!"

Pepper sloppily flew back into the tower where the suit was taken apart by the many robots there. She was greeted by a smug grin on Tony's face while Happy and Harley's mouths were hanging out in shock. Fury seeing Pepper back inside and all the reporters gone stopped the video call. Tony just walked right up to Pepper and pecked her on the lips before pulling her to his chest. Meanwhile Happy took out his phone and Harley watched in disgust.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"

"About 12% as much of your love for yourself."

"Aw Pep! That really hurts!"

"But seriously I am so proud of you that was awesome!"

"It was really cool! You flew and went Pow! And Bam! And scared them all away!"

Harley jumped excitedly getting laughs, he was full of energy just like an explosion of coke and mentos.

"What do you need security for now! You can take care of it all yourselves!" Happy yelled.

"We need security for Harley! And I doubt I will ever wear the suit again!"

"Right she'll never wear the suit again! That is the only suit and it is only for emergencies!"

This calmed Happy down a little bit, his job as head of security was safe for now.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**Sorry I have been inactive so long. I have been working on several stories. So in this story I have decided things will be different then when I first contemplated it. When I first started writing this the second Thor had just come out, now with so many more movies there is a lot more to contemplate. I have decided to go AU completely after the end of season one of agents of shield. Spiderman 2 has happened as well as everything up to age of ultron but that movie does not exist. S.H.I.E.L.D is being led by Coulson and the avengers will find out about them soon enough. Right now it is in between Thor the Dark World and Captain America the winter soldier. SO in mid season 1 of agents of SHIELD.**

Things in the tower were settling down. Tony had started a new program for the avengers called the iron legion. They would be controlled by Jarvis and would help get civilians out of the way out of any major fights. He had also made three or four back up suits with Pepper's permission. She realized they wouldn't be safe after what happened in Greenwich with Thor. Bruce and Tony were creating a suit they called Veronica. The suit was made to take down the hulk in an emergency. It was a satellite orbiting the earth, and when tony called it down a cage would trap Bruce long enough for Tony to get into the suit. The satellite could also send down new armor anytime a piece was destroyed. It was a good design and both thought it would be successful.

Harley was doing better than they thought he would in under a month. They had realized Pepper would be too busy to help teach so a tutor was hired for the subjects she would be taking care of. He was doing well in school and Tony and Bruce had ended up teaching the ten-year-old ninth grade math and science. Mostly their classes were made up of reading, doing experiments and advanced equations. So schooling was going good as well. Pepper and Tony had started discussing more options for next year.

Several other things had happened as well, Pepper's threat had helped a lot but a few tabloids still were running articles on Harley and trying to find his identity. The two decided they needed to sit him down and talk about a press conference. So one day in April a conference was arranged and Harley was called to meet with his adoptive parents. The kid came down to the main room with a troubled look on his face. Was he in trouble? Had they found out the mess he had made with the Elephant toothpaste? Or how he had tried hacking that organization Tony called S.H.I.E.L.D? Did they want to send him away? The last one he had doubts about. Tony and Pepper were so nice to him, they were starting to become a family, in his mind they weren't even Tony and Pepper anymore he was adjusting to the idea of calling them Mom and Dad.

"So Harley, can you sit down?"

"Am I in trouble? I'm sorry for the mess, I did help Butterfingers clean it up."

"We will talk about that later," Pepper sighed, "Right now we have something more serious to talk about."

"Oh okay…. Wait are you sending me away?" panicked Harley

"No! Of course not, we need to talk about a press conference," Tony calmed the boy.

" What's that? Press is the newspapers and a conference is a meeting but why do we need to talk about a newspaper meeting?"

"Well sweetie, because we have all settled down as a family we have decided to tell the world the truth about you. That you are a hero for helping Tony in Tennessee and we adopted you recently. Is that okay with you?" Pepper asked the boy calmly.

"I'm not a hero, I'm just Harley. Anyways I don't understand why we need a newspaper meeting for them."

"We need to let the world find out you were adopted, the rumors will only die down this way. Even Pepper's threat didn't work. In some cases that made it worse. But I need you to understand this could put you in danger." Tony said with a serious look on his face for once.

"Tony!" Pepper shrieked at her boyfriend, "Harley, it's fine. He just meant now some people might think you are an easy way to get money from Tony and I. So Rhodey will be coming to stay in the tower for a month or so for extra protection. Is that okay with you sweetie?"

"I guess. So what do I need to do about this conference?" Harley still didn't really understand.

"You will be standing in front with me and Pepper. We will pick a reporter and answer a question only if we deem it appropriate. We both will be there with you the whole time."

"Ok! I can do that. Can I go finish what I was working on?" The boy started turning to the lab.

"Actually Kiddo, I could use your opinion on something I'm working on. Come on!"

So Tony grabbed Harley's hand and had Jarvis bring them down to the lab where Dummy and YOU greeted them. Harley patted both of the robots before running over to Tony's worktable in excitement. He grabbed a stool Tony kept there for him and started looking at the assortment of weapons that were arranged before him.

"What's all this for?" The bright-faced boy looked up at Tony who couldn't help but smile brighter.

"This my little minion is a gift for my two favorite superspies."

"It's for Black Widow and Hawkeye? Cool!" Harley's excitement was contagious and Tony laughed picking up the little boy and setting him on the table.

"Super cool!" Tony grinned at the wonder on the boys face, "and you are going to help."

"Really? That's awesome!" Harley jumped up, "You hear that Dummy, I'm going to make a present for the Avengers!"

"What are you talking about little buddy? You have an avenger right here!" Tony acted wounded.

"But you're just Tony, Ironman doesn't matter. I would love you without him Da…."

Harley caught himself embarrassed. He hadn't meant to do that. So he decided to change the topic. Before he could he caught Tony's face, the man was crying. He had tears in his eyes and his grin was stretched so wide it looked painful. What was going on? Tony wasn't mad that he called him dad?

"Well, son…" Tony looked to see if Harley was okay with this and the nervousness faded from the boy's face. "These are new weapons I have been designing and I want you to help, but it's a secret."

"Why? Are you guys not friends?" Now he was curious but sensing the topic wasn't a good idea he decided to ask Bruce later. "What are you making for them?"

"For Hawkguy I am making a new quiver for his arrows. He ran out when we fought Loki. This has 3 times as much plus several new trick arrowheads. I just need to work on ideas and fix them up to make them aerodynamic."

"Oh, so I can help with that? What about for Black Widow?"

"I call this the Widow's Bite, it works with electricity and a paralyzing agent called a dendrotoxin. It is nonlethal as well. The dendrotoxin I found by hacking S.H.I.E.L.D. a scientist called FitzSimmons invented it. So these bracelets have electricity and tiny needles releasing just enough to paralyze someone and put them out of a fight. I just need your help welding them together."

"Okay!"

With that the little boy jumped up and got ready to work. Tony found he really enjoyed teaching Harley about all the different material they were using and how to work some of the tools. He thought it would be annoying but for some reason it just made it more fun. Tony usually talked to himself well he worked but with Harley there the boy listened and sometimes replied to Tony's thoughts with his own. He had never been happier than he was now. He hoped Harley hadn't noticed the tears in his eyes when he almost called Tony dad. Honestly Tony thought he would never have a child but Harley was exactly what a child of his and Pepper's would look and act like. Tony had fallen in love with the boy and found himself craving spending time with just Harley and Pepper like a real family. His life was starting to complete itself. For the first time in years Tony was truly and utterly happy.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Within the month several things had happened. Harley had gotten so comftorable around his new family Tony was Dad all the time. Lets just say it shocked everyone when Harley asked "Dad" to pass the eggs at breakfast that morning. Pepper became Mom a week or so after. Harley had been having a horrible dream and when Pepper comforted him he called her mom. She was so shocked she didn't bother to correct Harley. A few days after she sat down with Harley and told him she would never take his mothers place but she would be honored if he called her mom.

Tony had sent a picture of Bruce's face the first time he was called Uncle Bruce to all the avengers. The man was never really comftorable around Harley because he was scared he could hurt him. Harley had slowly inched his way into Bruce's heart and even though being called Uncle came as a shock he loved it anyway.

This past week Rhodey had visited. Tony had asked Harley to pull a prank on Rhodey by calling him his Uncle as well. The ten year old didn't really understand why this was funny but complied. As a story was being told about Iron Patriot's latest adventure Harley sat listening intently. When Rhodey stopped to take a breath his eyes bulged when he heard, "What happened next Uncle Rhodey?" Tony had gotten the footage and it never failed to make him laugh from then on. RHodey completely forgot the story and picked up the boy and gave him a noogie. That started a wrestling match where Rhodey pretended to be a bit challenged. Harley wasn't fooled. Tony's new screensaver was Harley giving Rhodey a talking too telling him Harley could take him at full strength. This got laughs all around. From that day on Rhodey was Uncle Rhodey.

The family was finally getting used to everything. Harley was being brought to schools all around New York to decide which was best for him. They decided he should go back to public school as he was used too but they still only chose the best. The next year Harley would start at Midtown Science Middle School. He should be starting sixth grade the next year but testing put him in eighth. Harley was a bit nervous about making friends with kids older then him but Tony told him he would have no problem with it.

Today was the press conference. Harley was a bit nervous and really itchy. He really didn't like the suit Pepper was making him wear even though it matched Tony's. When he told her so he got a disappointed look but Tony just laughed.

"Don't worry Kiddo to be honest I would rather be wearing my rock t-shirt and some jeans."

"Tony I think Harley looks adorable. " Pepper was resisting the urge to squish his cheeks, "Are you ready?"

"I don't thinks so."

"Don't worry Pep and I will be next to you the whole time."

"What should I call you when I am out there? Will it be bad if I call you Dad and Mom?"

"For now we should probably stick with Tony and Pepper," Pepper agreed with a sigh. She was really getting used to being called mom.

Just then Happy came to escort the family downstairs to the press room. Tony and Pepper had taken careful consideration of which papers and news castings to invite. They decided to ask papers they were sure would send someone Tony hadn't had a relationship with before. They didn't want anyone doing something in front of Harley. Pepper was wearing a nice business suit which went well with Harley and Tony's matching suits as well. They looked the perfect little family. As the door to the press rooms opened Happy was silencing the reporters. Pepper spoke up to start the press conference.

"Since we are all friends here lets set some rules. Tony and I chose the reporters who ask questions and we go one at a time. One question per reporter and we can chose whether to answer or not. Harley will not be pressured to speak and we will be in charge of answering which questions he can answer understood?"

"I think you've scared them enough Pep. Let's start with you.." Tony pointed to a reporter in the audience.

"How died you meet young Mr. Keener?" The reporter asked.

"I met Harley here during the extremis attacks. I was trying to find Pepper and found a lead in Rose Hill, Tennessee. My suit crashed and I broke into Harley's garage to try and fix it up. He attacked me with a potato gun and to be honest in the beginning we didn't really respect each other. I learnt Harley here is a little genius and saw some of his inventions, he found out who I was and started questioning me on every little detail. At the time I was suffering PTSD from the Battle of New York. When I had a panic attack Harley helped me through it. But when AIM learnt I was in Rose Hill they sent extremis soldiers. I am sorry to say Harley was taken captive but used a weapon I had given him for self defence to save himself. His sister was killed immediately during the attacks and his mother suffered severe burns of which she died two months ago. Anything to add?" Tony looked at Harley and Pepper.

"I didn't know your real name. You told me to call you the mechanic," this got laughs, "Tony was a huge jerk in Tennessee. But as a thanks for my help he sent me some new tools which helped a lot. He saved my life and he's not so bad now." This got more laughs, Harley continued, "I really do miss my mom and Lizzie but I love Tony and Pepper."

"What do you have to say about this Ms. Potts?"

"I didn't really know the full story until Tony decided he wanted to check up on Harley again. He told me then and when he found out what had happened to Mrs. Keener he started paying for her medical care. Realizing she didn't have much time left we arranged to become Harley's guardians when Mrs. Keener passed. Lets just say it was probably one of the best decisions we ever made. I couldn't imagine my life without Harley now."

"Mr. Keener how is life in Stark Tower?" Came the next question.

"Of course, I would rather be at home with my mom but this is second best. I have my own lab and I get to do lots of experiments. Pepper plays with me a lot and we read together too. I help Tony in the lab too. We are building a car engine from scratch. Colonel Rhodes visits a lot, I like his Iron Patriot stories a lot. He's fun to wrestle with." Satisfied with his answer he looked to Tony and Pepper to see the smiles dancing in their eyes.

A few more questions were answered until one ended the good streak. Somehow Christine Everhart, another woman Tony had a fling with, had gotten in. She brought the whole press conference down by asking one question. With a cruel smile she asked "Tell us about the attack Mr. Keener."

This brought on a flashback. Harley had not had many recently and the nightmares were getting better. The question though was unexpected and he was brought back to that night hearing the crackling flame, smelling the burnt skin and bodies. He started crying out before Tony picked the boy up and cradled him. Harley pressed his head against his head against Tony's shoulder and the warm tears wet the new suit. He was completely outraged, how dare she do that to his son? That was a cruel thing to do extremely to a traumitised child. He had been adjusting so well before this. Handing Harley to Pepper Tony stepped off the podium. He walked right up to Ms. Everhart.

"Go!"

"What?" she pretended to look confused.

"Go! You were not invited and you just asked an extremely cruel question to a child with PTSD. Go before I ask security to escort you out and never get near my family or me again!"

With that Tony got up took Harley back from Pepper and left the room with Pepper trailing behind him. Christine Everhart was being escorted out by Happy who threatened her as well. It took a while but Tony and Pepper were able to calm him down. Tony helped Harley out of his suit and into his new Iron man PJs (which were bought as a joke). Pepper went to change into sweats herself and stayed with Harley as Tony changed as well. The whole family went into Pepper and Tony's room where a movie was suggested. Getting a week nod they decided on the new movie Rise of the Guardians. They enjoyed the movie immensely and just sat there in silence watching it. The little boy in the movie Jamie reminded Tony of Harley. He didn't know why but he did. He shut off the TV when the movie ended to see both Harley and Pepper asleep. Placing a kiss on both their foreheads Tony lied down and went to sleep.


	11. New Tower Residents and Friends

Chapter 11: New Tower Residents and Friends

**Wow the previous chapter was a long one. Probably the longest I've ever written I hope I did well please share your thoughts. Anyway here's where we really get into the other avengers. Remember I own none of the characters they belong to Whedon and Stan Lee. I only own the plot line.**

It took a while but by late April Harley was back to his old self. Tony had finally found a way to send out invites to all the avengers telling them they now could take up residence in the tower. Barton, Romanoff and Rogers replied in formal letters saying thanks but they were busy with S.H.I.E.L.D. It was surprising though that Thor accepted and asked if he could bring his girlfriend and her assistant. After doing a triple lookover and security check of Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis, Tony replied yes. Maybe Pepper would make some new friends plus he had wanted to talk to foster about her theories on the Einstein Rosen Bridge, which the asgardians called the Bifrost.

It was in early May that Thor showed up with Darcy and Jane in hand. They easily got their stuff settled in Thor's floor, which he apparently loved. Tony decided to greet his new residents and give them a tour. Bruce helped show Jane the labs and it was then they really started talking.

"So Dr. Foster.." Bruce started before being interrupted.

"Just Jane please."

"Tony and I were looking over your notes on the Einstein Rosen Bridge and were wondering if you would like to build one."

"I would love too. It's my dream." She replied ecstatically.

"Lady Jane, you told me your dream was to unlock the secrets of the universe?" Thor input.

"This will help me do that honey."

"I would build one but I don't have funding." She finished her reply to Bruce.

"I'll fund it, honestly I am really curious about it. That's one of the reasons I wanted you here in the labs."

"You're giving her a new project? Great now its going to be even harder to drag her away from her science to take care of herself. " Darcy groaned.

"I totally understand that. Tony's impossible but Bruce is better. The worse is that Harley here is learning from their habits." Pepper entered the room Harley trailing behind her.

"Wow! You're Thor!" Harley was literally bouncing up and down excited to finally meet another Avenger.

"That is my name," Thor crouched down to Harley's level. "I believe you are the valiant Harley? The one who helped save the Man of Iron? A great warrior already!" Thor enthused.

"Please Thor don't encourage him. I don't want him taking after me." Tony said as Pepper nodded behind him.

"Why not Dad? I want to be a hero just like you." The women cooed he was just too adorable.

"This is a conversation for another time. First proper introductions, Pepper, Harley this is Darcy, Jane and Thor. This is my girlfriend Pepper and my son," he still felt so happy every time he said that, "Thor while Bruce and I discuss Avenging business with you lets leave the ladies to talk. And you Harley are supposed to be doing the equations I gave you before starting the new book you were assigned."

"Really?" Harley gave Tony a skeptical look, "I finished the equations like a half hour ago and I finished that book last night. I wanted to meet everyone." He gave his best puppy dogface.

"Sorry buddy doesn't work. Go to your lab or do something else. Maybe Jarvis has an idea. Even go hack Uncle Rhodey's suit like I showed you."

"You know that works on your suit too." Harley stated with an evil smirk causing everyone to laugh but Tony.

"Just go or lab privileges are suspended."

"Not fair." Harley pouted and stomped off.

"So Thor come with me and Bruce. I will see you ladies later at dinner." He winks roguishly and walks out Thor following.

"So sorry, but you'll get used to it." Bruce states before running after Tony and Thor.

"Sorry about Tony. He's a bit eccentric, its been better since Harley came to us." Pepper started.

"I totally understand," Jane said, "I have to stop Thor from trying to explore everything. The culture shock is way too much for him some times. Our avenging boyfriends are hard to handle."

"Its good to finally have some girls in the tower. I have been stuck with just Bruce, Rhodey, Tony, Harley and Happy our head of security forever."

"God that must be awful. I have Jane though even though I have to literally have Thor drag her away when I want her to get out for some girl time," Darcy snickered.

"Talking about that Darcy I was wondering while Jane is working on this new project you would enjoy being my new PA. I looked at your resume and I think your skills could be useful. Plus I could always use your help trying to get Tony, Bruce, Harley and now Jane out of the labs."

Lets just say Darcy was shocked at this offer. She idolized Pepper for climbing up in the business world the way she did. Plus working for Stark Industries as Pepper's PA really wouldn't hurt to add on her resume. She had finished college and was no longer a intern now. She stayed with Jane even though she couldn't afford to pay her. Now she would be paid as well and rubbing elbows with the high class wouldn't hurt. It helped to make connections. But was it okay with Jane? She couldn't hurt her best friend like that. She turned to Jane to see what she thought. Seeing Jane's smiling face and slight nod finalized it.

"Of course. Honestly that would be a dream come true Ms. Potts. This would give me the opportunity to change the world like I've always wanted."

"Let's save the Ms. Potts for in the office. Here you call me Pepper. Now you said you have some more stories on stuff Thor has done. I'll tell you some juicy things on Tony if you exchange info on Thor. By the way Jane do you know how lucky you are? I mean umm… this arms." **( That's an ongoing joke with the AOS fandom) **

That is how Pepper made two new friends and Thor, his girlfriend and Lightning Sister moved into the tower. Thor had found ways to keep himself occupied as well. He now followed several TV shows and loved to read. He found the Norse myths especially funny. I mean Loki having a kid that was a six legged horse? The girls had adjusted to the move as well. Darcy had moved into the extra room on the floor and you could depend on her complaints of noise to Pepper every morning. Apparently letting Jane and Thor share a room wasn't the best idea for the other tower residents. Jane was always in the lab with Tony and Bruce starting their latest experiment. Which leads us to our next story.


	12. For Science! (Or Asgard!)

Chapter 12: For Science! (Or Asgard)

**Tell me if you think any of my characters are to OOC. I am trying my best with Darcy and Jane. Plus Thor's language is hard. Remember I don't own a thing. Just the idea for this story and most of the plot. (The bits based off the movie belong to marvel) I mean I wish I did. I wish I could be best friends with the actors of the avengers as well. We all know none of that is going to happen.**

Jane, Thor and Darcy easily settled into the Tower. Jane was often found in the labs and when Darcy and Pepper weren't working Darcy was having opnionated arguments with Tony, to the amusement of Bruce, or playing with Harley, who loved his new playmate. Darcy had proved herself as a scientist wrangler and made sure everyone ate and never overworked themselves. Thor was often in the training room destroying the LMDs (Life Model Decoys) Tony had created to act like enemies. He had started teaching Harley to wrestle in return Harley gave him more lessons in the world culture. He couldn't really use the electronics around Thor. When the alien wasn't concentrating electronics around him kind of went beserk.

It was on a day that Pepper and Darcy were on a trip to the Stark Industries factory in Japan that scientists and Harley were in for a huge surprise. Thor had gotten hungry and had fetched Harley from doing homework to go get everyone for lunch.

"Friends, would anyone like to join me and Harley in our midday feast?"

"Not now buddy. We are almost done solving this very important equation." Tony waved Thor off.

"Explain Lady Jane?" Thor prompted, as he watched amused as Harley tried to see the scientists work.

"We have almost figured out how to recreate something similar to the bifrost." She turned back to her work.

"Ah! Your Einstein-Rosen Bridge? The one instituting E=MC squared?" This caused everyone in the room to turn and look at Thor.

"You understand quantam physics?" Tony looked skeptical.

"It is necessary for a prince of Asgard to understand the workings of the Bifrost. I only know parts though. Only Heimdal knows all of the Rainbow Bridge's secrets."

"So you are saying that you could have split the working time for this in half? You could have finished this for us!" Bruce looked confused.

"I thought Lady Jane would like to be recognized for her hard work. She deserves it. I have never known a more dedicated Lady." Jane blushed at Thor's compliment.

"You really understand all this?" Tony wasn't convinced, "Why do you always look confused when we talk science. Jane is an honorary part of the Science Bros. She's our first Science Gal!" Groans rose at this.

"No really, we have me and Bruce the Science Bros, Jane the Science Gal, and Harley our Science Baby! But really Thor I am finding this hard to believe."

"I am used to reading equations like this in Norse. I am thankful to Allspeak so that I may understand it. I still don't understand the terms you use. Ours are much different."

"That makes sense," Bruce complied, "I mean you must still be getting over the culture shock."

"Yes, young Harley is a help though." At this he grabbed the little boy who had been mostly quite and slung him over his shoulder.

"Stop Thor! Please!" cried Harley, "Help me Uncle Bruce!"

"Not in the lab!" Tony said though he was smirking, "Can't risk Hulk destroying all our work."

"Even if we did we know now that Thor could recreate the equations. He has the knowledge." Bruce stated his point.

"Help me!" Harley was being tickled mercilessly, "Uncle! Uncle! Stop Thor! Uncle!"

"What?" Thor finally stopped, "I am not your Uncle."

"It's a way of asking for pity." Explained Jane.

"Ah! Understood so food?" Thor asked as Harley's tummy grumbled.

"Sure. You good kiddo?" Tony asked.

"Yep, maybe I should call Thor uncle. Bruce is already my Uncle why not Thor?"

"Great, at this point we will have a whole family of avengers!" Tony groaned as Harley ran off and jumped Thor.

"Uncle Thor? Where are we eating?" Harley asked turning heads again.

"Why do you seek pity now?" Thor was confused.

"I think he actually wants to call you Uncle Thor. Makes you part of a family, right Harles?" Bruce asked.

"Yep, just like you Uncle Bruce. Is that okay?" He broke out the puppy dog eyes to thor.

"Aye! Come my young comrade. Let us get some food!" He picked up Harley and started whirling Mjolnir.

"Thank goodness Pepper isn't here," Tony said as Jane reprimanded Thor and told him he couldn't fly of with Harley without permission. Thor was looking scared when Harley brightened.

"If he's Uncle Thor then your Aunt Jane," Harley stated stopping Jane mid yell.

"Oh Harley I'm honored!" Jane said tearing up.

"Should I call Darcy aunt as well then?" Harley giggled. Everyone chuckled.

"You can try it out bud. But knowing Darcy she'll refuse. Say she's too young to be an aunt." Tony said.

"Ready for lunch?" Bruce said.

"Poptarts?" Thor pleaded.

"Those are breakfast, Uncle Thor," Harley turned to Tony, "Can we get burgers Dad?"

"Sounds good. Lets order in. Or should we pick up? I want to see there reactions to Thor flying in."

"Not sure that's the best idea."

"Nah! It's a great one. I'll go in the suit. I don't think Pepper will mind just this once. Thor you carry Harley."

Lets just say the whole neighborhood went into a panic when the two avengers showed up which Harley found hilarious. They explained they were only their to get the food and flew away as people snapped pictures. As everyone else dug into their hamburgers Tony was trying to calm pepper down over the phone. It was even funnier because they could hear Darcy giggling in the background. It was only when she heard Harley telling her he was safe and Uncle Thor (that was a shock) was fun to fly with she calmed down. It shocked her even more when he asked to speak with Aunt Darcy, who told him over the phone it was just Darcy ( just like Tony predicted Bruce handed him 5 dollars) and she was too young to be an aunt. She did say she bet Thor was a fun uncle and was super jealous. She had never flown with him before. Japanese flooded over the phone and they hung up to go to their meeting.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The First Taste of Danger

**Here we begin CAWS. I hope you like it guys. Please leave your comments the good and the bad. From your reviews I have learnt a lot and tried to improve my writing. A few chapters ago someone asked why I compared Harley to Jamie from ROTG. Its just because of his youthful optimism. I also learnt Harley is the boy in Jurassic World. He is pretty much the same. A young genius ignored by his family who finds family in a life threatening crisis. He cries about the same things too. I love that little boy. He is so adorable.**

It was nearing Memorial Day weekend. Pepper would be off of work and Tony had planned a celebration for the towers residents. Harley was excited for the summer too even though the coming holiday brought back memories of celebrations with his mom and sister back in Tennessee. Tony was celebrating for another reason. His helicarriers were finally being launched today. Only Bruce and Pepper knew. This was his way to make the world safer, if only it had worked out that way.

The whole family (that included Rhodey, Thor, Bruce, Darcy, Jane and Happy) was assembled on the roof when J.A.R.V.I.S called Tony. He was told he had a guest downstairs. Tony went down as Thor and Harley played catch and Bruce read. Rhodey manned the barbeque and the girls talked as Happy watched. They were fine till Tony came back up with a surprise. It was Clint Barton A.K.A Hawkeye.

"Man of Hawks? What a surprise where is the Widow Black?"

"That's what I needed to talk to you about. She's with Cap. We need to talk, just the Avengers."

"Sorry Clint was it? Where Thor goes so do I." Jane put in.

"Same with me and Tony." Pepper agreed as well.

"I guess that's okay. Ms. Lewis right? Would you be staying? Colonel Rhodes is welcome as well."

"Happy, Darcy, are you guys okay with taking Harley downstairs?" Pepper asked sensing that something was wrong.

"Mom… I want to stay. Please?" He asked lip trembling.

"Not this time kiddo. C'mon go with Darce." Tony gave him a push to tell him it was time to go.

"What's wrong Clint, can I call you that?" Bruce asked politely.

"Yeah I'm guessing you guys want to be called by your first names too," Clint received nods, then he sighed.

"Fury's dead." Gasps sounded, "Steve was there. He's been blamed. He's on the run. Nat's with him. She contacted me and told me to get away from S.H.I.E.L.D."

"The pirate can't be dead. That's impossible." Tony was startled, "What about the helicarier launch?"

"It's still to go on. Pierce is the one in charge." Clint said.

"Alexander Pierce? Met the guy once. Dad didn't like him I have to agree."

"Yep, but something's wrong. S.H.I.E.L.D. is my home. It's been Nat's too since I brought her back from Russia."

"What could it be? Are we safe?" Pepper asked concerned.

"I don't think so. I advise we lay low. I would advise shutting down the helicarriers as well but Pierce is obstinate. It's suspicious."

"Will the avengers be called in? I have been thirsting for battle!" Thor finally put in his two cents.

"I hope not. I want to keep free of the green guy for a while." Bruce disagreed.

"I am afraid Thor's right, I mean we should have been contacted about Fury's death. And about Cap and Widow being fugitives. I mean they are part of the team. Somethings wrong, the helicarriers are my project and I made it possible for only SHIELD to have complete control. Let me try hacking the system to see what's wrong."

"Fine, we'll cut the celebration short but be careful Tony," Pepper sighed, "Clint you need rest let me show you too your floor."

"My own floor?" Clint seemed shock.

"Nah you share with the itsy bitsy spider. Hope that's okay."

"Fine, let me know what you find?"

"Of course."

With that Pepper led Clint away, and left the rest of the adults in shock. S.H.I.E.L.D was likely compromised. Secrets and power were probably in enemy hands. But who were these enemies? Tony then decided to break the silence.

"I'll go find Happy and have him keep a close eye on Harley. Rhodey go back to the army, who knows if their compromised too." Rhodey nodded his head and saluted Tony with fear in his eyes.

"I have a feeling we are all targets now. Bruce go to the Hulk room. You need practice, I have a feeling we will be reassembling too. Thor are you okay practicing with him?" Tony asked

"Aye! Come my comrade. Time to unleash our Green Friend." Jane watched them leave worriedly.

"Tony?" she asked, "Make sure he's safe?"

"The big guy will be fine, Jane. Now why don't you join Pepper I feel like you girls need time."

When they got downstairs they found everyone standing in front of the TV instead of being where they should be. On the TV was horrific scene. The helicarriers were rising out of the river and Cap, Natasha, Hill, and a man with a wing suit none of them recognized were trying to bring them down. Tony decided to set Jarvis to work.

"Jarv what is going on?"

"Sir it seems S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised at its deepest roots. Ms. Romanoff has released all their files on the web."

"Tasha?" Clint sounded shock as everyone else gasped. "She blew all her covers?"

"Yes Mr. Barton. Hydra has compromised S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Wait Hydra? From like the comic books?" Harley asked.

"Harley can you sit for a minute?" Tony asked deciding he needed to explain the danger they were in to his son.

"What's going on?" The boy was confused.

"Just like Cap isn't just from a comic book neither is Hydra. My dad helped fight them. My Aunt Peggy was on the front lines. It seems like they were insided S.H.I.E.L.D all along. And it's likely they will be after us." Tony ran his hand through his hair, but it looked like Harley understood.

"He's S.H.I.E.L.D isn't he?" Harley pointed at Clint, "Or are you really Hydra?"

"Nah kid, S.H.I.E.L.D was my home for years. I was an orphan in the circus before Coulson took me in. He's kind of like my Tony." Clint knelt down explaining to Harley, "It's the same for Tasha, she had it bad before I found her. And Cap? That guy wouldn't work for Hydra no matter what."

At this Harley nodded. On the TV the first two helicarrier went down. Darcy was watching raptly with Harley. Happy took out his phone and started making calls to raise settled on the couch watching for any flash of that bright red hair. Rhodey had already left but Jane went to call on Erik and tell him to be careful. Bruce was getting stressed so he went to the Hulk room with Thor. Pepper finally pulled Tony aside.

"The suits." Pepper whispered.

"What?" Tony looked confused.

"Tony it's clearly obvious that our life can never be normal. You are a billionaire, I was your PA. Now I'm CEO and you are a superhero and inventor. Our adopted son has a giant green rage monster/award winning scientist and a norse god for uncles. Now we are all in danger anyway. You need to rebuild the rest of the suits."

"Are you sure Pepper?"

"Absolutley."

"Fine but just to make sure I don't over do anything you have control of the suits. Ok? you can over ride them. That way I don't get out of control."

"That sounds like an agreement I can make." She said cuddling in to him.

"Hmm?" He said kissing her head.

"Not now,Tony! " Pepper scolded.

Tony groaned but gave Pepper a quick kiss and started Jarvis on the suits before trying to find out more information.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As it turned out Fury was still alive. Hill had contacted Clint who had found a way to get her to Stark Tower. She quickly relayed the information about Hydra's takeover and that Cap was still in the hospital but she had left instructions to have Natasha take him here as soon as he was well enough. Grateful and realizing Hill must be jobless now Pepper immediately offered her a job. So now Maria Hill was working in SI's PR department.

It was only a few days later when Widow, Cap and a man called Sam Wilson showed up. They had shown up to the tower looking exhausted. They were brought up to the common floor by Happy where everyone was waiting. Introductions were made and Harley was pretty happy realizing he had met all the avengers! How cool was that? They filled in the details of what the rest didn't know. After that everyone then fell into silence, at least till Natasha broke it.

"Clint, can we talk?"

"Sure Tash, let me show you our floor." The two assasins then took off to do who knows what.

"Floor?" Steve asked, Sam looked shocked too.

"Um, yeah. Each avenger has their own, plus guest rooms. I'll show you yours." Tony started walking waiting for Cap to follow.

"That can wait, me and you need to talk privately." Steve looked somber even more then when they had fought off an alien invasion.

"I'll show you the floor while we talk everyone else will stay here. Get back to whatever they were doing."

"Can you show me your wings? They looked so cool! How do they work?" Harley took the lead distracting sam.

So Thor and Jane headed off to the date they had planned before the others showed up. Pepper and Darcy went back to SI and Harley was trying to get everthing he could out of Sam. It seemed everthing would be fine so Steve and Tony headed to Steve's floor. As they walked Tony started the conversation.

"So Captain, how can I help you?"

"Steve is fine. You've got quite the operation going on here."

"I was hoping you would join it. The world needs the Avenger's now more than ever."

"What does Pepper think about that?"

"She's the one who decided I should rebuild the suits. She wants me to keep the world safe. Plus Harley's shown me what a hero truly means. I need to do this for him."

"I was surprised when I heard you adopted a child. Why?"

So Tony launched into the story of his and Harley's meeting and the adoption process. He explained that he would be a better man, a better role model now. He also said he hoped Cap would support him, his son didn't need to see him fighting with a teammate.

"I hope you will be a good father to him."

"I hope so too, though my father wasn't exactly a good example. So I'm just winging it."

"Talking about your father, I learnt something about your parents car crash."

"There was nothing too it. Someone ran a red light and hit the car."

"No there is more. Hydra orchestrated it. They were murdered."

Tony sat down in shock. He hadn't really thought about it. He had known it was strange but with the sudden responsibility and grief he had decided to get drunk. He was drunk most of the time for the next year. His parents and Jarvis were killed by Hydra? Damn those bastards. But looking at Steve he could tell he wasn't done.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"You know we mentioned the assassin the Winter Soldier? He's Bucky Barnes."

"I thought he was dead."

"So did I, until I knocked off the assasins mask. He has no memory of me. Natasha said she knew him. He was one of her trainer's in Russia. Apparently when he wasn't needed he was kept in deep freeze."

"How did he survive the fall?"

"Hydra was experimenting on him when the 107th was captured. We didn't know but they must have worked. Sam and I are going to find him."

"You need any help? I can try to find information."

"Thanks," finally Steve cracked a smile, "I appreciate it."

"The tower can be your base. Actually we were thinking about taking down Hydra and could use the master's help. This way we could gain info each time we take down a Hydra cell."

"That could work. I really appreciate it."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

**(I learnt their strategies but observing their fighting styles in avengers and AOU.**

Within the next few days the new tower residents settled in great. Steve, Natasha and Clint were all a bit uncomftorarble around Harley though. Sam immediately got along with everyone and was grabbed by tony to make updates on his wings. Harley seemed fascinated by the aerodynamic design of the Falcon wings and was talking about how his Uncle Rhodey would love them. Tony immediately agreed and called Rhodey up. Let's just say the two got along splendidly and were always comparing stories from being in the air force.

Natasha and Pepper hit up their friendship exactly where it left off. Natasha made great friends with sensible Jane and spunky Darcy and started giving all the women self defense classes. The men were terrified especially when they found out that Natasha had taught them to hide weapons on their persons. Harley just found it extremely funny and asked to join in as well. Natasha asked Tony first.

"Harley approached me about joining our self defense lessons. I told him it was up to you and Pepper."

"I think it would be a good idea. He's a target now. I don't want him to get hurt. I think Pepper will agree as well but I'll ask her."

Turns out Pepper thought it was a great idea. Harley joined in the classes and learnt to protect himself. The boys were pretty jealous so Clint and Tony took it on themselves to get Jarvis to let them watch the girls work out on the security footage. Lets just say when the girls found out both boys weren't going on any missions. The tower was still very busy otherwise. The Avengers were often on mission for intel and taking out Hydra cells. They weren't the only ones. There was another group helping them, they just weren't sure who. It seemed Hill knew though but no matter how hard they pressed her for information. No information was found on Bucky and Steve was upset about that. But now the Avengers were melding together as a team.

Tony was in charge of equipment and supplies. He updated the suits they all owned and made them all comftorable. He was the one who often found intel by hacking and then our super spy duo went undercover for more information and to scout the layout. Then Steve was in charge of strategy though Natasha and Tony often helped. Hawkeye was their sniper and the widow was their combat specialist.

All of them traveled on the newest quinjet which Tony had supplied and landed on top of the tower. It contained Cap's new improved bike, which he used to travel during fights, Thor and Tony flew but Hawkeye and Black Widow just stole whatever they could and used it to their advantage.

Once they got to the scene Tony always scouts ahead before closing the perimeiter. Hulk and Thor are there best heavy hitters so they come in next. The rest of the team follows taking care of the rest. They had all become a well oiled fighting machine.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

The Avengers were taking a break for the week. It was late June and Harley was celebrating his 11th birthday, and his first one without his mom. They were going to make it unforgettable. While Pepper and Tony set up the tower with the help of Thor, Jane, Rhodey, Sam, Natasha, and Steve the others would take Harley to the park. It was better this way because they weren't as recognizable.

They had fun at the park. Clint wrestled with Harley, while Bruce read and Darcy took a video on her camcorder. Then Darcy, Clint and Harley played tag. Bruce read all along but laughed at his friends and excited nephew. When Darcy spotted an Ice Cream vendor she dragged Clint along to help her carry the Ice cream for the four of them. Bruce was put in charge of Harley who went to play on the jungle gym. As he watched his nephew his phone rang.

:"Tony?"

"Hey Brucie. You guys can come back now. We're all set up and ready to hide in place."

"See you soon Tony."

Bruce looked up to see Harley was gone. He looked around panicked and started calling Harley's name when Clint and Darcy returned.

"Where's Harley?" Darcy asked.

"I don't know. I took my eyes off him to answer Tony's phone call. Have you seen him?"

"No but we'll help you find him."

They looked over the whole park calling Harley's name for about 15 minutes before Tony called. Bruce answered the phone not happy to tell his best friend that his son had disappeared.

"Bruce, where are you guys? It shouldn't be taking this long to get back to the tower."

"Tony, we cant find Harley."

"What? Werent you all watching him?"

"Darcy and Clint went to get Ice Cream. It's my fault, I took my eyes off him when you called."

"I'll send more help down there to help Clint look. You and Darcy are needed here."

Tony hang up and turned to the others in the tower with a terrified look on his face.

"Harley's missing. Darcy and Bruce are coming back Clint is still looking. Who wants to go help him?"

"I will." Natasha immediately volunteered.

"Let me fly around and see if I can find him." Sam volunteered.

"I'll go help Clint too."

"Good." Darcy walked in with Bruce, "How can I help?"

"Alert the police and Happy. Send out info on social media. I have a suspiscion it's a kidnapping meaning a ransom. Pepper? Are you ok?"

"Harley must be terrified. It's his birthday nothing like this should be happening."

"I'll keep her company." Jane led a white Pepper to her room.

"Tony, I'm so sorry. I just took my eyes off him for a minute. We will find him." Bruce said but only received a glare from Tony who turned to everyone else.

"The rest of you get to work. Harley's in danger. I won't lose my son."

At the park Natasha and Clint had started interrogating people while Steve ran around nearby alleyways and Sam took to the skies. They all met back together at a café, where their waitress Beth gave them their drinks.

"A woman we asked-" Natasha started before Clint chuckled.

"More like interrogated."

"Fine. But she told us she saw Harley leave with a man. It looked like against his will but she just thought it was a kid who didn't want to leave the park."

"I saw him. I called Steve to help when he did. A man was stuffing him into a van. Definitley a kidnapping." Sam input.

"I saw the man, I could provide a sketch of his face. I have the license plate memorized. I couldn't get to Harley in time though."

"We should tell Tony and Pepper. Both are probably going insane with worry." Clint pulled out his phone actually concerned.

"You found something?" Tony had picked up on the first ring.

"Yep, We have a license plate and Steve sketched the face on a napkin. Sending you a picture now."

"Got it. Jarvis run facial recognition and license tracker. Darcy contact the police. Rhodey, Thor go tell the girls we have a lead."

As Thor and Rhodey went up to Tony and Peppers room the search came back. The van was parked at a warehouse in the Bronx. Tony immediately went to suit up and called Natasha, Clint, Steve and Sam and gave them the address.

"Hold on Harley I'm on my way."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Tony met the others outside the warehouse. He was dressed in full Ironman Suit and looked tense. He was going to kill this bastard, Harley must be so scared. This Rumlow ruined his sons birthday. Cap looked like he wanted to punch someone's face in and Sam looked pretty concerened. Even Natasha and Clint were having trouble hiding their fear for Harley.

"What do we know about this Rumlow?"

"He's enhanced. Had to be to survive us destroying the triskelion. I have worked with him several times with Clint. He knows us. Steve too."

"The only ones whose moves he doesn't know is you and Sam. We can still fight him but it would be pretty even matched," Steve replied.

"What do you think he wants?" Tony asked, "I will pay anything to keep Harley safe."

"Hydra doesn't need money. They have ton of money from several different funders." Steve put in.

"We'll get him out. I'll sneak in and get him. You guys distract Rumlow." Nat put in.

"Just get my son back safe."

Harley had been having a lot of fun in the park. He had known what the rest of the adults were doing in the tower. Thor had given it away. It just took a quick check. (meaning a hack of Jarvis. Thanks Tony!) He was pretty excited then it all went wrong.

A huge man had approached him with stubble on his chin and scars splitting his face into several sections, he also had sunglasses and a hat on. This man had asked him if he wanted some ice cream. He replied that Clint and Darcy were already getting some. This made him mad.

Harley had woken up and reached up to rub his eyes. He couldn't move his arms! Where was he? Screaming he realized his voice was muffled. He was gagged as well. The man had kidnapped him. Harley started evaluating the situation like Natasha had taught him. First he needed to find a way to untie himself, but why did someone take him. Probably to get to Tony. Just as Harley contemplated what the man could want he heard a crash. He quickly ungagged himself like Natasha taught him.

"So you're awake. Stark's kid. Probably a spoiled little brat, just like the man himself."

"Don't talk about my dad that way!"

"So the pipsqueak thinks Stark actually cares? That's hilarious."

"Tony cares. We're connected." The man cracked up.

"That's bull boy. Who fed you that crap?"

"Who are you anyway? What do you want from me?"

"I'm hydra. My boss wants you. Thinks you would make an interesting specimen. Plus wouldn't hurt to have a piece to use against Stark."

"The Avenger's will save me. You wont take me to Hydra," Harley stuttered.

"Pssh. 'Course I will. Fury had told Pierce about you. He told Whitehall. The man said he could use a little scientist like you. Especially one that had been living with the Avengers. We get Stark's designs and take you too Whitehall."

"The Avengers are coming for me." As he said that Harley saw a flash of scarlet hair.

"I have Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Captain America, Falcon and War Machine for Uncles. Black Widow is my aunt. Ironman is my dad. I have a family of superheroes who are coming for you."

"We sure are." The rescue team had arrived.

"Sorry to see your still alive Brock. Hoped you had went down with the Triskelion."

"S.H.I.E.L.D's not the only team with enhanced, now don't move a muscle. I have leverage." Rumlow pressed a gun to Harley's neck and Steve narrowed his eyes as the gun was cocked.

"You wouldn't dare." Tony stepped forward

"But I would."

"Not so fast." A man in red and blue swung through the window and kicked the gun out of Rumlow's arms.

Taking a chance the shield was flung was flung and hit Rumlow square in the jaw. Rumlow chuckled then spit out several teeth with a side of blood. Sam swooped in while right then and kicked Rumlow in the face. The man made a grab for Sam's legs to be hit with an arrow in the arm. He yanked the arrow out only to turn and see Ironman there.

"Why did you take my son?"

"Needed some of your armor designs. It was the only way to get them."

In reply to that Tony punched the man square in the face. The man in red and blue shot a sticky weblike substance which stuck Rumlow to the floor. With a smirk Clint climbed down from his ledge and turned to the man as Tony rushed over to Harley

"You're that Spiderman guy." It wasn't a question.

"Happy to help." The man leapt to the window ledge and saluted. "Now don't be getting in to too much trouble little guy." He said to the returning Harley who was held in his fathers arm. With that he jumped out the window and a minute later they could see his figure swinging across the city.

"Harley's okay. He just needs to be checked out by bruce. I already called Pepper and had Bruce prep the med bay."

"Go ahead Tony. Take him home."

"Will do." Tony's faceplate closed and with that he took off Harley in his arms.

"Hey bird boy two. Take bird boy one home will you? I need to talk to the golden oldie." Nat said and gave Clint a look convincing him to go along with it.

"Sure thing Widow." Falcon said.

"Clench up I'm guessing." The Hawk turned to the Falcon.

"Sure thing." With that they followed Tony into the sky.

"So are you okay?" Natasha turned to her friend.

"No, Hydra's doing experimients again. I don't want anyone else to turn out like Bucky has. Lost and alone, brainwashed by hydra."

"Look Steve. I've been there. During the Cold War, Hydra started an alliance with the KGB. They started a recruitment program. They killed the families of talented young girls they wanted to recruit and took them. These girls were trained as assasins. If they didn't do well enough they were killed by another girl. As they got older they were taught the art of seduction and sent on missions. Hydra had perfected a serum which they sent to this Red Room. It enhanced these young girls, made them more beautiful than ever. Made them live longer. Enhanced their skills. Finally more and more girls were killed and the best was trained by the winter soldier. Her final test made her the black widow, she killed everyone of her sisters to prove her loyalty to the mother country."

"I'm sorry Natasha. I never realized."

"No one ever does. Clint saved me. He gave me the chance no one else would. But now we need to go, Stark has a van waiting outside look."

With that the duo headed to the van outside and went home to the tower.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Meanwhile at tower Pepper was prepping the medbay with Bruce and Jane. Tony had called and said Harley was safe. Pepper was still upset and was proud when her boyfriend showed how much he had grown by asking the medbay be prepped to check over his son. As they all rushed around in a flurry J.A.R.V.I.S spoke up.

"Ms. Potts. Sir has arrived with Master Harley in his arms. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Barton are approaching as well."

Tony walked in still in full armor holding a sleeping Harley. Jane left the room with Thor who had come in to see if anyone needed help as Bruce got to work on Harley. Seeing her boyfriend and son safe Pepper let her emotions get the best of her and leapt at Tony who stepped out of the suit just in time putting it in sentinel mode. He embraced Pepper and let her warm tears stain his shirt.

"He's safe. We got there in time. Even met that vigilante Spiderman."

"What did they want? Did they hurt him? Is he okay?"

"It was a Hydra lackie. One who knew Cap, Widow and Hawkeye. Said he wanted the suits but I could tell that isn't all. We need to ask him for the full story when he wakes up. Wilson can help, Steve said he was a counselor for vets. But don't worry I think he's fine. Probably some bruises he will probably bounce back soon."

"What happened to the kidnapper?"

"I gave him a nasty bruise for you before Spiderman webbed him to the floor. I have Hill working on a way to send him to prison."

"Good." Pepper said drying her tears as Bruce turned to them.

"Harley should be fine. He has some bruising from being manhandled and tied up. He was drugged as well, they are being flushed out of his body as we speak. Maybe a bruised rib and sprained wrist but he'll be good as new by the end of the summer."

"Thank you Bruce."

"I'll leave you with him call me if you need anything."

Bruce left the couple with their son. Seeing him look so small and vulnerable while unconscious like that made Pepper tear up again. She walked briskly to the side of the bed and sat near Harley. Being careful she picked him up and cradled him in her arms as he slept placing salty kisses in his hair. Tony let some emotions through his wall as well and smiled. His eyes teary from worry but the smile took place in his eyes as well. Pepper was an amazing mother. She was amazing all around. He honestly didn't deserve a women like her. With that thought he sat on the bed as well encompassing his son and the love of his life in his arms. Snuggling his face into Pepper's neck they sat their and fell asleep with their son safe in their arms.

The next morning both parent's stayed vigilant at their son's bedside till he woke up. Bruce was bustling about and all the other Avengers came in periodically to check on their smallest ally. Pepper was standing in the corner of the room discussing something with Tony in a hushed whisper when Harley awoke.

"Mom? Is everything alright?"

"It is now that your safe." With those words from Pepper everything hit Harley.

"I'm safe? You saved me? I'm not dreaming? Is he in jail?"

"Your fine now buddy. I'll always save you. And yes he's in jail he will never get you again." Tony said walking to Harley and hugging his son.

"Pepper and I want to hear all about what happened so we can find ways to keep you safer. Is that okay?"

"I guess."

"Is it okay if Sam comes? He has experience with this and Pepper and I are too attatched to you to provide proper help."

"If he needs too." So J.A.R.V.I.S called Sam who was there within the minute.

"I'm glad to see you're alright Harley. Can you tell us what happened?"

So Harley started retelling everything he remembered and using his eidetic memory quoted the conversation he had with Rumlow word for word. When he started talking about Hydra's plans to use him his young face paled. He turned his sky blue eyes towards the adult tears in his eyes.

"I'm scared. Why do they want me?" Pepper burst into tears and Tony stormed out of the room in rage. Sam just turned calmly to Harley.

"They're not going to get you. Not if anyone in this tower can help it. Hydra's going down."

"Promise Uncle Sam?" Sam tried to not let those big blue eyes see his shock at being called uncle but his efforts were fruitless making Pepper giggle.

"Sure thing little buddy."

Tony had stormed through the tower and made his way to the gym where he found Steve as expected. The man seemed shocked to see Tony there but only raised an eyebrow. Pulling off his boxing gloves he stepped away from the bag he was decimating.

"How can I help you?"

"Take those bastards down. Every last one."

"Excuse me?" Steve's eyebrows knit in confusion.

"You heard me. I'll help anyway I can. Hydra is going down."

"I don't mean to pry but what initiated this reaction? You didn't even flinch when I told you that Bucky killed your parents."

"That took years of practice. My parents had full lives but Harley hasn't."

"Harley?"

"It's not just the suits they want, they want him. S.H.I.E.L.D had files on him and now Hydra thinks he'd be useful. A young genius who has been living with the avengers and knows their weaknesses. They think he can be easily persuaded."

"I doubt it. That kid's got your iron will."

"Was that pun intended?" Tony smirked.

"Sure was. Before we start our war on Hydra can I see Harley? He was hurt last I saw."

"He still is. He's a bit scared and I don't think my storming out in rage helped. But I couldn't help it. I didn't want to scare him if I lashed out."

"The kid idolizes you I doubt you could ever really scare him."

"Thanks, but go ahead. He really would love the visit."

Steve approached the room just as Sam and Pepper were leaving. Seeing the conflicted emotions on his friends face he decided to talk to him before going in. Seeing Sam and Steve needed to talk Pepper headed to find Tony.

"Is he okay?"

"Terrified but he's a kid. He'll bounce back soon. Tony tell you what Rumlow said?"

"Honestly I want to leave and go find this Whitehall right now and give him a piece of my mind but I need to see Harley first."

"I understand. That kid's family now. He called me Uncle Sam. Though I am pretty sure the stars and stripes are your thing." Sam chuckled at Steve's playful glare.

"So we'll talk after this? Make plans for Hydra?"

"Sure now go in before the kid falls asleep."

He entered the room to see Harley in his bed. The kid was sketching on a drawing pad and Steve smiled remembering all the sick days he passed the same way. Quitely entering he stood by Harley's shoulder and looked into the sketch book.

"What are you drawing?"

"I'm not drawing. I'm inventing. These are blueprints."

"You need to draw for blueprints. I don't know much about inventing but I know about drawing. When I was younger I used to get sick a lot. Reading and drawing were pretty much the only things I could do. Turns out I had a talent for it. I was in art school when the war started."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I could teach you if you want. Could improve your blueprints. Not everything has to be done on tech like Tony does."

"My dad would just say you're a dinosaur that doesn't want to learn about tech."

"I can figure it out. I just don't always like to use it."

"I guess that makes sense. Can you show me one of you're drawings?"

"Sure thing. Here's one of Natasha and Clint sparring."

"I thought we were the spies." Came a voice from the vent.

"I guess you have other visitors."

"Can you teach me more later Uncle Steve?" Harley asked.

"Anytime buddy," Steve said ignoring the snort from the vent, "Come on out Clint, is Tasha there too?"

"Fine you caught us." The red head dropped from the vent followed by her partner.

"Super hearing," Steve pointed out as he walked out the door.

"So Pepper said you wanted us." Clint leaned back in a chair.

"Yeah. I wanted to thank you. You saved Uncle Sam."

**Thunk**

"Uncle Sam?" Clint looked incredulous.

"Yeah. I have Uncle Bruce, Uncle Thor, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Steve. Uncle Steve was teaching me to draw when you came in."

"Was he?"

"Yeah. Hey Uncle Clint, can you teach me too shoot like you do?"

"No one can shoot like I do."

"I can if you teach me. Auntie Nat is teaching me self defense. She's probably only reason I'm alive." Harley turned to Natasha but she had left as soon as she heard the word Aunt. She couldn't be an aunt. She was a monster, not someone who loved a child.

"Where did she go?" Harley turned to a worried Clint.

"We'll talk about shooting later, by the way I'm honored you would call me Uncle but I need to help your Auntie Nat now."

He found her in the weapons range cleaning her guns. He sat beside her and started fletching some new arrows falling into a familiar rhythm. Turning to his partner of around 10 years he signed in ASL.

"You Ok?"

"In shock."

"You deserve the name."

She put her weapons down and orbs of emerald green specked with golden brown met sky blue clouded by gray. Those eyes were old, older than they looked. They had seen more than anyone should and they were eyes that never teared. No matter how much she wanted to, like right now.

"Clint, I'm a monster. I'm a killer, worse I'm a child killer."

"You're a victim who became a hero."

"My ledger isn't clean yet."

"It could be. Harley is a way to start. The laughs you create with him will wash away the cries you created in the Red Room."

"I can't do this Clint."

"You can though. That kid already loves you and I'm sure plenty more will too. If there was a chance for you to be a mother you would be a great one but we both know that the room took that away from you. If you can't be a mother be a good aunt."

"I guess I can do that. Only if you're a good Uncle."

"Already am. Did I ever take you down to meet Laura and the kid's at the family farm in Iowa?"

Natasha had heard of Barney (Clint's dead brother) and his wife Laura but never the kids. They didn't talk much about families in their partnership neither really had one. Especially since Clint had found out Barney had fallen in service to the country recently. So Clint had decided it was time to take the family upon his shoulders but they were to be kept a secret. From everyone but Nat. So Clint engrossed Natasha in stories about his family as they planned a trip to the Barton home.


	19. Chapter 19

**Here is where the real crossovers begin. I also recently edited this chapter with the fact that Spiderman is now a teen. Before that it was based on the Amazing Spiderman movies. Now it will be based on the Ultimate Spiderman cartoon and the comics but when Civil War comes out and I will add elements of that Spiderman. There will probably still be small elements from the amazing Spiderman.**

It was late August and Harley would start at Midtown this week. He was really excited to finally make friends in this city. Tony was a bit worried about it though. He had been taken advantage of as a child. People wanted to get in with the wealthy famous kid with cool toys. Now that the Avengers lived here with him people would want to get to know him just to meet their heroes. So after discussions with Pepper and the school board it was decided Harley would go by Keener not Keener-Stark his new Legal name. He would have to try not to attract attention. He probably would any way he was a genius kid who had skipped several grades. Instead of sixth he would be starting eighth. Midtown was a good school for Harley though, there were lots of smart kids. They thought Harley would really enjoy it.

Darcy dropped Harley off on his first day because she was probably the least recognizable. She walked him in and made sure he was registered at the front desk where a teacher's assistant met him to show him around.

"Harley Keener, right?"

"Yeah."

"The names Peter Parker, I'm a Junior but I help out in the lab when I don't have class. "

Peter was a lanky guy, with a kind smile, messy hair, and warm chocolate brown eyes hidden by long thick lashes. Noticing Darcy for the first time he put his hand out.

"And you are?"

"Name's Darcy. I trust you've been told about our friend here's special situation?" Darcy went straight into business mode.

"Yes, but don't worry. Most of these kids won't recognize you, they hardly watch the news."

"Good. Ms. Potts will be glad to hear it. You said you were in school yourself?" Darcy was also told to make sure Harley was in good hands and she would do her job well. So she put on a smile and puffed out her chest a bit, (not that she needed to).

"Um yeah," Peter stuttered obviously uncomfortable with the situation, "I'm a Junior on the honor roll. Like Harley I was advanced and skipped a grade or two. I'll hopefully go to Empire State after graduation and major in biochemistry and biomechanics. I'm not planning on leaving the city or my aunt anytime soon."

"Really? That's cool." Harley suddenly perked up.

"Yeah it is. You like science?" Peter looked down at Harley with a smile.

"Yeah, Dad, Aunt Jane and Uncle Bruce teach me all about science. I get to watch them work in the lab."

"I guess so. Wait Bruce…. Did you mean Bruce Banner?"

"Yeah, Uncle Bruce is really good with chemistry. He helps me with experiments in my lab."

"Wait in your lab? You have your own lab?" Peter was to shocked that this eleven year old had his own lab to fanboy about Bruce Banner completely.

"Perks of being Tony Stark's kid," Darcy waved it off, "You can talk science with Harley later. I believe I heard the bell just ring," She turned to Harley and held out her fist. "See you later little buddy."

"Bye Darce," He fist bumped her before turning after Peter who showed Harley down the hallway.

Harley returned home that day from school full of smiles. He couldn't wait to share what had happened at dinner. Running into the apartment he plopped his backpack in his lab, before heading downstairs to the common floor where everyone was sitting in the table for dinner.

"Uncle Steve what's for dinner?" Steve was the best cook, so he took dinner duty most times.

"Lasagna. Wasn't your first day of school today?" He ruffled Harley's hair before turning to pull dinner out of the oven.

"Yeah."

"So how was school Harley?" Pepper asked kindly piling food on her son's plate before serving herself.

"Did you make friends?" Steve asked turning his mind to Bucky.

"Did you enjoy your classes?" Bruce thought it was more important Harley was challenged in class.

"Pull any pranks? That's what I did in school," Clint interrupted.

"What is this school?" Thor thundered over all of them.

"It's a place children go to learn," Jane informed her boyfriend.

"Ah! The Learning Hall! Harley did you win any fights?" Realization flashed across Thor's face.

"I hope not. Schools not like that on earth, but if you did you should have used that move I taught you," an evil grin spread across Natasha's face.

"I sure hope not. Most important thing is you had fun," Sam pushed down Natasha's idea.

"Yeah, the guy showing me around was nice," Harley started before being interrupted.

"Parker?" Darcy asked.

"Yeah. He's cool, he showed me around and asked me about my latest experiment, then he told me what he was working on in his free time."

"Whose this?" Tony asked.

"Said his name was Peter Parker," Tony filed away Darcy's reply in his mind for a later date.

"So science was fun?" Jane questioned.

"The teacher wasn't as good as Uncle Bruce." Bruce blushed at Harley's compliment to everyone's amusement.

"Meet any nice kids?" Pepper prodded.

"Yeah, a boy named Miles (Morales). He's really cool. He was telling me about how he met Spiderman. I told him Spiderman saved my life."

"Did he ask what from?" Tony sure hoped Harley didn't give away his identity.

"No. He just asked a lot about Spiderman, like what he looked like, how he fought. Dad do you know who Spiderman is? "

"I was wondering that myself. I think I can find out," Tony mused.

"You sure that's the best idea Tony? The guy has a right to a secret identity."

"Not now Captain."

"Harley, do you have homework?" Pepper interrupted sensing an argument.

"It's not due for a few days."

"You're still going to do it. When you're done it's up to the shower and then bed."

"Mom!"

"No argument. Come on, I'll help you," Pepper ushered Harley up to their floor leaving the rest to clean up dinner.

"I've got the dishes," Sam volunteered.

"I guess I'll dry," Darcy shrugged.

Sam and Darcy doing chores together usually ended up in more work needing to be done, so Steve offered to supervise so the others could go their own ways. Clint and Natasha headed off to spar while Jane and Thor went to their floor for the night. Tony and Bruce both headed to their own labs. Once he was at work Tony remembered something, "J.A.R.V.I.S bring up everything you can find on Peter Parker."

"May I ask why Sir?"

"Name sounds familiar."

"Peter Parker: Age 16, Son to Richard and Mary Parker."

"Wait… the ones who worked for Oscorp?"

"Yes, it seems they also worked with S.H.I.E.L.D at a point. I'm continuing now Sir. He was orphaned at age 6 when his parents died in a plane crash. He was then taken in by his aunt and uncle, May and Ben Parker. The Uncle was shot during a store robbery last year. Parker is on Midtown's honor roll. Parker is top of his class in Midtown and hopes to major in Biochemistry and Bioengineering at Empire State. He works as an assistant teacher at Midtown for extra high school credits and as a Freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle to earn extra money. Sir, curiously he was also on S.H.I.E.L.D's watch list," Tony dropped the torch he was using.

"What? Contact Hill, see if she knows why."

"Will that be all Sir?"

"Arrange a meeting with Parker. He's hired."

"May I ask for what sir?"

"I've been thinking of getting an intern. Seems I found the perfect one."

"An intern?" Pepper said, walking into the lab.

"Harley asleep?"

"Soon as his head hit the pillow. Who are you hiring?"

"Yeah, the guy Harley was going off about. Looked him up. We need another person to help us out in the labs. It's a lot to juggle and could use some help. Take a look at the kid's file."

"Looks like he could use a lucky break," Pepper's face grew darker and darker as she read Peter's misfortunes.

"I'm about to give him it."

"I bet you could use a break too. I'll be waiting for you…" Pepper placed a kiss on Tony's lips before walking upstairs. The clinking of heels faded away as Tony realized what she said jumping up to chase after Pepper.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

It was Peter's first day in Stark Tower. Why Tony Stark had chosen him as an intern he would have no idea. Peter was extremely surprised when he got a call saying he had gotten a job at Stark industries, a job he had never applied for. Aunt May was ecstatic, bragging to all her friends in her various club activities, saying her Peter was the smartest boy she knew and how it was a miracle he hadn't attracted this kind of attention before.

If only she knew the truth, Peter thought as he walked into the tower, observing the wide variety of people bustling around to do their jobs. After being checked for weapons by a short man by the name of Happy, Peter got a security badge. Pinning it on his chest he walked to the elevator to report to the R&amp;D floors as he was told.

"Welcome Mr. Parker," a voice said. Peter flinched causing him to poke himself with the pin.

"Hello?" Peter looked around, he was alone in the elevator and his spidey sense was not alerting him of anything.

"I'm J.A.R.V.I.S, I control Stark Tower. Sir is waiting for you on the 55th floor," the voice replied in a lilting British accent.

"Are you an AI?" Peter said curious.

"Yes, a creation of Sir's, one of his favorites," Peter could imagine the voice puffing up his chest in pride.

"Here you are Mr. Parker. Sir is through that door."

Peter walked through the door to be greeted by science heaven. All the equipment a scientist could need plus more was sitting there waiting to be used. Peter's hands were itching to get a hold on all of it. As he looked around he felt a hand on his back, just a second after his spidey sense alerted him.

"Welcome. I see you've introduced yourself to the lab?" Tony said laughing at the awe on Peter's face.

"Mr. Stark," Peter stuttered, "Thank you so much for this opportunity."

"No more of this Mr. Stark, the name is Tony. Got it?" Peter nodded quickly in the response.

"Good, anyway I had to check you out. Harley was saying how cool he though you are and I looked you up. Kid you needed a luck break."

"Wow, thanks Mr. Stark, I'm not sure I'm as good as you think."

"I'm sure you are kid. I don't know why someone hasn't snatched you up earlier. Now your job will to be my PA, meaning you're my personal assistant who helps me out with everything. I need help keeping track of my meetings, so you need to drag me there. You help me out in the labs, with filing and other paperwork. Good?"

"To be honest Mr. Stark this is a dream come true."

"Brucie!" Tony yelled, making Peter jump out of his skin, "Meet the new kid!"

A man with curly brown hair, horn rimmed glasses, and kind, concerned brown eyes peeked around the door. Peter recognized him immediately. This was the best day ever! "You're Bruce Banner!" Peter shrieked in fanboyish glee.

"That I am, and you are?" the man chuckled.

"I'm Peter Parker. I'm a huge fan. I loved your paper on Gamma radiation and it's uses. I mean.." Before Peter could finish Tony cut him off.

"He's the new intern."

"It's very nice to meet you. I guess I'll be seeing quite a lot of you now," Bruce said walking off.

"That's true, Bruce is working with me on all my biggest projects. We are working on an Einstein-Rosen bridge with the help of our resident astrophysicist Dr. Foster."

"A what now? You're really attempting a portal to cross dimensions?"

"Asgard has the tech so why can't we!" Tony waved it off, "Thor helps too surprisingly he knows a lot about this kind of stuff. So sometimes I help out there or I help Bruce look for a cure."

"For cancer?" Peter asked.

"For the Hulk."

"Oh."

"Oh is correct. Don't worry big green isn't that bad, Bruce is the only one that thinks so at least in here. We've been working on a special Iron Man suit just in case of an emergency as well. J has been a big help with Veronica."

"Hello again Mr. Parker." The voice came from the ceiling.

"J and the others help out sometimes. Harley helps out too, or I work on the latest car with him."

"The others? And you let an 11 year old fool around with the Ironman suits?"

"Harley is completely capable, plus he's never allowed in here without supervision. He has his own lab to fool around in. Though it only has stuff safe for a child his age to use. So sometimes he comes in here if he needs help. The others are Dumm-E, Butterfingers and You. Come here guys…" Three robots came over, one of the shorter ones pulling on Tony's pants leg, and another looking around curiously and the third poked and prodded Peter.

"They're quite a big help actually. Now my latest project is Spiderman."

"Spiderman?"

"Spiderman. He is a pretty big thing now. Need to find out who he is. Thinking of asking him…" Tony was interrupted by a blaring alarm.

"So sorry Peter, we will continue this tour later. Duty calls."

A window opened and Tony looked down before falling over the edge. Peter ran over to see if he was okay to be greeted by the sight of Ironman joining the other Avengers for a fight. Grinning he pulled out his backpack.

"Jarvis. That's your name right?"

"Yes Mr. Parker. How may I help you?"

"Can you not tell Tony about this? And keep the windows open and loop the camera's for a minute."

"Yes Mr. Parker I shall do as you ask, but if Mr. Stark asks I shall make no attempt to keep it from him."

"Fine, fine," Peter shimmied into the spandex, and fastened on his web shooters before jumping out the window and swinging away to join the battle.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**Have to say, please don't bash my choices for what characters I include in my stories. I am a bit too young to have fully enjoyed the older spiderman movies completely. So my Peter Parker is like the Drake Bell one from the Ultimate Spiderman Cartoon. Keep in mind I am not completely up to date with all the comics and this is based on what I know from the MCU and a little bit of help from a Marvel Encylopedia. **

As Peter swung into the city he surveyed his surroundings. A bunch of Hydra goons with extraterrestrial weapons. Oh joy! This fight would be fun. The Avengers worked together in seamless effort, they seemed to be of one mind. Peter almost had doubts about joining the fight and disrupting this dream team, but this was his city and when it was in danger no one could stop him from saving it. Peter let go of his web and flipped into a crouching stance next to Cap.

"What's the deal here?" he asked.

Cap turned eyebrows raised, "Spiderman right? Can I help you?"

"Its what I can do for you, not what you can do for me. I want to help here."

"No offence son but that's not the best idea," Cap said while using his shield to knock a man unconscious with out looking away from Peter once.

"Look, I'm not an Avenger but I do what I can for this city. You're not gonna stop me. Capiche Cap?"

Cap sighed, "Avengers- Spiderman is here. He'll be joining the fight."

He looked back towards Peter, "Just be careful kid. I don't need more blood on my hands."

Peter gave a two finger salute in response and turned to join the fight only to see a Hydra goon towering over him.

"While hello there sir. How's your day been?" Peter used the man's confusion to his advantage. He slid under the mans legs and used the webshooters to pull them out from underneath him. Once the man was on the ground Peter webbed him there for good measure.

"Ta ta!" Peter flipped over another man who was charging toward him and using the momentum he pushed the man's shoulders sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Two down, more scum to go." Peter said, swinging away.

While he swung around the fight he flipped around, kicking goons into the Hulk's and keeping other Hydra agents from leaving the scene of the fight. All around him Hydra was being beaten into retreat. Hawkeye sat on the top of a building, picking off Hydra scum one by one. The Black Widow sowed terror through the Hydra Agents, sending kicks to soft spots on some and on another using a thigh choke. Peter almost peed his pants, the glare of Natasha Romanoff was truly terrifying but the way she took those men down… Wow… Ironman flew around the fight, using his repulsors beams to knock down the enemy count. Every once in a while Stark would land take a few men down then pick another man up and take off. Hulk wreaked havoc…. It was truly a sight to see, especially when Thor joined him. The Norse deity threw Mjolnir with such might, and every so often he would summon lightning from the sky and shock the pants off a retreating Hydra agent. Cap was a whirlwind, using his shield as just about any kind of weapon. He led the Avengers with such confidence and poise. Peter found himself stopping just to watch. In less than 15 minutes the battle was done.

Knocking out a last Hydra Agent Peter walked over to the Avengers. They were huddled in a discussion as a SWAT team collected Hydra members around them. Seeing Mjolnir on the floor nearby Spiderman picked it up to return to Thor on his way out. Approaching the Avengers he tapped the Norse deity on the shoulder.

"You wouldn't want to leave this," He handed Thor to Mjolnir who looked at him in shock.

Tony opened his mouth a few times as if to say something but thought better. It was eerily silent for the aftermath of a battle, just then a phone rang. Fall Out Boy's Centuries was coming from Spiderman.

"I enjoyed this awesome team up, but I've got to swing," Peter swung through the city, he retraced his path a few times then switched it up in case one of the Avengers was following him. Finally he decided he should be safe, crouching on the wall of a skyscraper Peter pulled out his phone.

1 Missed Call from Aunt May

He quickly dialed her number and called her back, "Hi Aunt May, you called?"

"Peter, it's fine. You must have been busy helping Mr. Stark."

"Yeah," Peter wasn't technically lying, "but I'm done now."

"Good. Can you pick up some eggs and milk? I want to hear all about your first day on the job when you get home."

"Of course Aunt May. I'll see you soon."

Great, now he just had to think up a plausible story for how he helped Stark. Maybe Aunt May would believe all he did for several hours was meet Dr. Banner and an incredible AI. He probably would have gotten a tour of the lab as well, he could definitely make that up.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: **

**Hey Guys go back and check out the last few chapters. I've edited them now that I know the MCU spidey is a teen. He will be there in Age of Ultron which I am starting now. Pepper is there with Jane and Darcy. Please Enjoy.**

Life went on as normal as it could for the Avengers for at least a few months. Take down Hydra bases, come back to the tower and chill. Over and over again. Harley went to school and luckily stayed under the radar. Tony had arranged a system he felt safe with as he started trusting Peter more and more. Darcy, Happy or maybe even Maria Hill who worked at the tower would drop off Harley at school. At the end of the day Peter would bring Harley home when he came to work in the lab. It was a carpool of sorts. The one thing Tony regretted was he wasn't home enough anymore. He was always destroying a different Hydra Base or doing something else. When he was home he had little time for Harley. Pepper was having the same issue, she was always traveling and doing work for Stark industries. Harley started idolizing Peter, almost as much as Spiderman. The teenager spent a lot of time with Harley and whenever Tony saw them together he felt fuzzy inside. He would still deny it if anyone said anything.

For that reason he had decided to invite Peter to keep Harley company during their party. Pepper was out of town with Jane and Darcy. They needed someone to keep an eye on the other boy during the party. The team had successfully taken down the base in Sokovia and Tony's work with Bruce on Ultron was doing well. Or so at least they thought.

The party was finishing up when the Avengers and their closest friends sat down on the table. That's when Peter asked about Mjolnir.

"Mr. Thor sir? May I ask what's the deal with the hammer?"

"But it's a trick!" scoffed Clint nursing his beer. Natasha was nuzzled into his side.

"Call me Thor young Parker. And it's much more than that."

"Uh-huh," Clint agreed sarcastically, "Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power. Whatever man it's a trick!"

"Well please, give it a try." Thor set the hammer down on the coffee table with a smile. Peter still looks confused. Harley who is leaning against the older boy decides to explain.

"Mjolnir, Uncle Thor's hammer, can only be lifted by him or those it deems worthy," Harley grinned.

"This'll be entertaining," Peter says as Thor urges cling up.

"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony says making the other laugh.

"You know I've seen this trick before, right? I'm a former carnie" He puts both hands on the hammer and grunts. He keeps trying to lift it and is unable to.

"So maybe it isn't a trick. Or maybe you just can't do it right," laughs Tony.

"Please Stark, by all means," Clint gestures to the hammer. Harley watched with wide eyes as Tony gets up.

"Oh, here we go," says Natasha with an eye roll.

"Uh-oh," Rhodey smirks.

"Yeah, this isn't gonna work," agrees Clint.

"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge. It's phsyics," Tony smirks putting a grasp on the hammer not yet attempting to lift it.

"Physics?" yell Bruce and Peter together. Everyone laughs at the tower's science nerds reactions.

"Right. So, if I lift it, I … I can rule Asgard?" Tony waves his Science buddies off.

"Yes, of course," laughs their Asgardian friend. Tony tries lifting the hammer. He fails then his face lights up with an idea.

"I'll be right back," Tony runs into the other room and returns with armor on his hand. He then tries again grunting as he goes. The whole room is laughing at him now. Even Harley who realized that lifting it was pretty much impossible.

"Platypus! Get your glove on and help me!" Tony calls.

Rhodey complies and they start pulling together.

"Are you even pulling?" grunts Rhodey.

"Are you on my team?" Tony says back.

"Just represent and pull!" No one is surprised when that doesn't work.

The two iron heroes sit back down. Next in the circle is Steve. Everyone turns and looks at him.

"Let's go Steve, no pressure. Come on, Cap." Steve gets up and pulls at the hammer. It wobbles and Thor barely manages to hide his shocked expression. It doesn't move and Thor sighs with relief.

"Nat?" Bruce gestures.

"No. Not a question I need answered," she says. Clint frowns, how can she still think there is red in her ledger?

"Why don't you go Bruce," Clint says. He's not gonna force Nat.

"No. Sam?" No one even tries to make the scientist get up to the hammer.

"Let's do this!" Sam gets up rubs his hands together and tries lifting it. Nothing.

"Yeah nothing."

"It's rigged," declares Tony.

"You bet your ass," Clint agrees.

"Steve he said a bad language word!" says Peter.

Steve groans "Tony, did you tell everyone about that?"

Sam hands Clint a jar. Clint winks at Harley and puts in five bucks.

Tony continues, "There's a security code. It's whoever has Thor's fingerprints. That's the literal translation."

"Yes, that's, a… very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one," Thor picks up Mjolnir and throws it up in the air like a ball. To him it's light and easy to carry he gives and arrogant smile and finshes, "You're all not worthy."

**Crash!**

All heads immediately turn. Peter gets in front of Harley. The other avengers form a wall in front of them.

"Worthy… No… How could you be worthy?" In walks a broken robot resembling one of Tony's Iron Legion.

"Jarvis?" Tony asks. Why hadn't the AI warned them.

"I'm sorry. I had to kill the other guys," speeks the metal shell inching toward them.

"You killed someone?" Steve looks outraged. He can see Harley shivering in fear in the corner of his eye. Peter however doesn't look phased.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. This is the real world though, we need to make ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Tony snarls.

"I see a suit of Armor around the world." Tony's voice plays from the suit. Harley's crying now. Peter pulls the younger boy into a hug.

"Ultron!" gasps Bruce.

"In the flesh… or not yet. Not this… chrysalis. Still, I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha says skeptically. Her guns are out with safety off. Clint is holding the arrow he had been twirling before. Rhodey and Tony still are wearing the gloves. Steve's shield isn't far.

"Peace in our time." Ultron says as Robots break through the walls.

Peter ushers himself and Harley behind the couch. Should he reveal himself?

Bruce manages to destroy a robot in his human form. Thor is taking them down easily. Steve's shield is flying everywhere. Sam has picked up a gun and is helping Natasha take some down. The two people with repulsor gloves are picking off the robots one by one. They're all gone. Thor puts his hammer on the couch and glares at Tony. Then a robot speaks. One is still working.

"That was dramatic! I know you mean well but you just didn't thing it through. You want to protect the world but you won't let it change. How can you save humankind if you don't allow them to …. evolve?" Ultron picks up one of the scattered Iron Legion heads. "The only path to peace is the Avenger's extinction."

"No. It's yours," Peter jumps from behind the couch and picks up Mjolnir. He throws the hammer hitting Ultron dead on. Everyone looks at him in shock but the sound of Ultron singing "There are no strings on me," even though his body was destroyed snaps them out it.

"Peter, how did you lift the hammer?" Natasha ask suspiciously.

"Yes. THe only other I have seen do so is the Man of Spiders," Thor looks confused.

Everyone turns to Peter. He waves, "Hey everybody."

"You're Spiderman?" sniffles Harley.

"Um… yeah. Kind of."

"Is it impossible for us to associate with normal people?" Sam groans.

"We can figure out that issue later. There's other issues on our hands," Tony said.

"Our work is gone. Ultron cleared it out and used the internet as an escape hatch," Bruce says after checking the lab.

"He's been in everything," Natasha glares at Tony, "Files, surveillance. He knows more about us than we know about each other"

"Nuclear codes," Rhodey says, "Look, we need to warn people, assuming we still have a way too."

"He said he wanted us extinct. Nukes is the way to do it," Steve sighed.

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint asked. "Who?"

"We're the only ones here, no one else was in the building," Natasha agreed.

"Yes, there was," Tony shows everyone Jarvis's destroyed code.

"Jarvis," gasps Peter, "This is insane."

"Jarvis was our first line of defense. He should've shut Ultron down. Yet, the opposite happened." Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose in though. "This is rage, not strategy. Ultron could've assimislated Jarvis into his system."

"The tower isn't safe. Peter can I ask you to take Harley home with you for now?" Tony asked. "We need to chase down Ultron. Go with Petey. Spidey kept you safe before I trust him to do so now. Okay Harles?" Tony crouches to his sons level and gives him a gug.

"Yeah, just keep me updated. C'mon Harley, I'm gonna swing you home spider style," Peter ruffled the little boys hair. Harley gave a tentative smile. Peter pulls on a mask and reveals his suit under his clothes. He throws them in a backpack webs it and Harley onto his back and jumps through the broken window.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

At this point Sam and Rhodey have left. Peter is protecting Harley at his home we're going to skip parts of the movie.

"The world knows. Ultron is all over your media," Thor said.

"He's everywhere. Labs, weapons facilities, there are reports of metal men coming in and emptying places of everything," Clint agreed.

"Any fatalities?" Steve asked.

"No," Natasha said, "From the calls I've made it seems people are knocked down by a blur or have relived their worst fears."

"Maximoffs. Makes sense he'd go to them. They have someone in common."

"Not anymore," Natasha shows them a picture of a dead body on her StarkPad, "Strucker's dead."

"He did a Banksy at the crime scene just for us," Tony said.

"Why though? Why send a message after just giving a speech?" asked Natasha.

"Strucker knew something that Ultron want us to miss," Steve agreed.

"Pull up a list of known associates," Tony directed, "There I know that guys. Black market for arms of the African coast."

"What is this?" Thor pointed to a symbol on the neck of the picture.

"It's a brand, an African dialect meaning thief," Bruce said.

"What dialect?" asked Steve.

"Wakanada or something," Clint said ,"I've heard of it."

"I hope he didn't get out with their trade goods," Tony groaned.

"Didn't your dad get the last of it?" Steve asked.

"What comes out of Wakanda?" asked Bruce.

"Vibranium, strongest metal on earth," answers Natasha.

Skip the whole thing with Ultron, Klaue and the Maximoffs.

The team was flying away from Africa in the quinjet when Tony got a call from Pepper.

"Tony what's going on? Are you okay? Where's Harley?"

"Hey Pep. Darcy, Jane how's the trip?"

The video call is easily viewed by everyone. They can all talk as the jet flies.

"The news is loving you guys," Darcy said dryly, "Nobody else is. Luckily no one is calling for Bruce's arrest or him being burned at stake."

"Send the relief foundation. The teams taken a hit but we'll be okay. Harley's safe. I sent him to Peter's house. Turns out our intern is Spiderman."

The woman on the other line go quiet for a minute in shock.

"We'll be okay Pep. Go, we both need to focus on work." Tony hangs up then turns to Clint the only other person awake. He kind of needs to be to fly the plane.

"Where we going?"

"To a safe house," Clint used as little words as possible. They land outside a large farm house. It's not a familiar place except to Natasha and Clint.

"What is this place?" Thor asks.

"A safe house?" Tony says skeptically.

Clint leads them to the door. He pulls out a key and lets himself into the house.

"Laura?" A woman with a barely showing bump walks into the room. "Hey, sorry I didn't call ahead. I probably should have since I brought company."

"Hi," Laura waves at the Avengers and gives a hug to Natasha.

"She's an agent of some kind," Tony whispers conspiringly to Steve.

"This is Laura," Clint says. She gives him a chaste kiss and looks at the Avengers.

"I already know all your names." They don't know what to answer too that. Suddenly the patter of little feet sounds through the house.

"Incoming," Clint winks at Nat.

"Auntie Nat!" A little girl is suddenly in Natasha's arms. The little boy is hugging her legs.

"These are smaller agents," Tony declares.

"Clint are these your kids?" Steve asks shyly.

Clint chokes, "No. They're my brother's. Laura's his wife."

"You kissed her?" Thor asked confused. "Is that not an act of intimacy among you midgardians?"

"Yeah. She's an old friend from the circus."

"It's kind of a joke between us," Laura finished for Clint.

"Where's your brother then?" Tony asked rudely.

Clint stiffened, "It's complicated. Turns out he had joined Hydra. He died right around when the triskelison fell. Fury helped me set this place up a while back and I moved Laura here when Barney went off grid."

The team goes silent for a minute before Natasha asks Laura, "How did the appointment go?"

"It went well. We'll have another Barton with in a few months."

"Barney would be proud," Clint said, "I'll make sure to take care of your son. Right little guy? You and Uncle Clint are going to have fun together."

Laura smiled, "You would be a much better father than Barney ever was. You sure you don't want kids?"

"Not my choice," Clint looked at Natasha, " But a little Romanoff-Barton would be fun."

"Not likely. And if we do have a kid it'll just be Barton. Hyphenization makes it to long," Nat said.

"You two are married? Ha! I win the bet!" Tony cries out. He is about to gloat when a look from Natasha and Clint stop him. Their glares are scary enough to make him sweat.

"The girls are going to be mad you kept this secret," Steve declared.

"Pepper's going to kill you," Tony laughed.

"For once you're not the one keeping secrets in your relationship Stark. Natasha told Pepper a while ago."

Tony choked on the cookie he had just popped into his mouth.

"Well at least Harley will be surprised."

**As you can tell I've changed a lot. I had so many new ideas and there's so many new things going on in the MCU that a lot of things had to change. I'm skipping the actual fight but we're going to have the aftermath. Pietro lives. He moves with Wanda into the tower. They share a floor with Peter who has a room there if he needs it. Bruce doesn't run away, but Thor leaves to Asgard for a bit. He's gotten word Odin isn't really there but Loki's been chased out. Vision is living on his floor as well. Rhodey and Sam are pretty much already living there. Now they're just official Avengers. **


	24. Chapter 24: The New Dynamic

**Chapter 24: The New Dynamic**

A lot changed after Ultron. Pietro, Wanda and Vision moved in. The twins into the guest floor which they made their own. Vision took a room on Bruce's floor, he didn't need much. Peter was gifted a room on Clint and Natasha's floor, just in case. Sam officialy (even though he pretty muc lived there) moved into Cap's floor. Rhodey did the same on Tony's and Pepper's floor. The military agreed to let him stay with the Avenger's as long as he was on call.

This all got Tony thinking. He had a feeling the Avengers would just keep expanding. Soon enough they would need a whole town to fit them all. Then he remembered his Father's old storage facility upstate. It had plenty of land and room for the Avenger's to train. It was also out of the way, so in secret he started planning. It kept his mind off the whole Ultron debacle.

The 19 year old twins along with 15 year old Peter were receiving training from Widow and Cap along with a variety of others. Then someone suggested they make all the new recruits join. Vision, Sam and Rhodey were drafted for training and sometimes everyone joined in. Avengers paintball fights, dodgeball games, tag and hide and seek were now a regular thing (Powers were allowed. There were no rules).

Harley was loving all the new additions. He thought Vision was the coolest thing since ever though he missed J.A.R.V.I.S. At least he got to help create FRIDAY. Vision who was trying to adapt often followed Harley around, he was Vision's favorite person after Wanda. Harley and Peter were always kind of close but now the teen was like an older brother. Harley idolized him and would never forget how Peter saved his life. Pietro and Wanda really took to Harley as well. Pietro would take Harley on long runs (That is once he recuperated from his operation in the cradle) and Wanda would perform magic tricks for him. Both were wrapped around Harley's finger.

Pietro and Peter got along well, both enjoyed making wise cracks and the occasional prank (Pietro more than Peter). They were always together, so Wanda went with the other woman at the tower (Darcy decided to take the witch under her wing). Harley often followed them both as well and soon everyone at the tower was on guard.

Vision, when not with Harley or Wanda, spent most his time in the Lab. That meant Jane, Bruce and Tony could learn more about how he worked and he helped them with other stuff as well. If he got annoyed with being poked and prodded then he would go find Thor, the two got along well which was strange since the latter originally opposed him.

The most unexpected relationship was the one that had developed between Pietro, Wanda and Clint. Everyone knew he was the one that persuaded them to fight with the Avengers against Ultron and that Pietro had almost lost his life saving Clint. But Clint had since adopted a mentor/father like role to the twins. He was the one that made sure Wanda ate and slept while she sat vigilant by Pietro's bed after he had been shot. He had been there almost as many hours as Wanda himself feeling it was his fault. This had concerned Natasha who knew he had a large guilt complex, especially after Coulson was killed while he was under Loki's control. But once Pietro was healed he was always with Clint (usually planning pranks with Peter and ocassionally Harley's help). Wanda would seek Clint out when she was feeling especially guilty about Sokovia, he was the only one who she felt understood. The three became closer and closer and Natasha was feeling left out, especially now that she was thinking about what Laura had said.

**_"_****_Clint would be a good father."_**


	25. Chapter 25: Spider Baby

**Chapter 25: Spider Baby**

Nat was brooding by herself in one of Clint's many nests in the tower vents. Tony had them made so he could fit through them and he used particularly large spots to stuff blankets and pillows with junk food. Beside herself and Clint the only would who ever dared to use the vents was Peter so she wasn't surprised when she saw him approach. Natasha was fond of the little spider but she wasn't in the mood to talk. He sensed that and immediately backed off.

Pietro and Clint were playing video games while Wanda was cooking some Sokovian food. Then Peter popped out of the vent above the couch and landed perched behind them, his legs in a crouch and arms holding onto the couch between them.

"Clint I think something's wrong with Tasha."

There was an immediate response. He climbed into the vent and Peter took his spot on the couch grabbing his gaming remote resuming the game. Wanda just chuckled and continued cooking.

"Tash what's up?" Clint said as he climbed into the pile of pillows next to her. She didn't respond. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her closer kissing her head.

She sighed, "Just seeing you with the twins. Reminds me what I can't give you."

"You give me everything I need."

She shoved him, "You're so cheesy. You know what I mean."

"C'mon Tash. The twins love you."

"No. They tolerate me because they love you. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, since Laura brought it up when we went to see her during the Ultron debacle. I want a kid Clint, badly. Seeing you with Pietro and Wanda, or Tony and Pepper with Harley doesn't help. Neither does having Peter around."

"To be honest I want one to. We both know we can't do it the natural way, so how are we going to do this?"

She looked up and smiled, "We can get a surrogate. Or we can adopt."

"Adopt. We both know what it's like not to have a family. Let's try to give a kid one."

"Adopt. You think we can find some help to arrange it?"

"Ask Pepper. She should know."

"She did tell me about a discreet law firm that helped when they adopted Harley. Nelson and Murdock I think it was."

"We'll have a Baby Spider on our hands soon."

"We already have one of those. A Baby Hawk."

"We'll figure this out later. The kids are making dinner for us."

"Your kids?"

"I think it's our kids."

After that night the twins became a lot closer with Nat. She spent a lot of time training with Wanda and giving her a listening ear for all the girl troubles she had (Vision and Pietro were constant topics). Pietro didn't need to learn to sneak around to set up his pranks but Nat taught him to lie. Soon it was clear to everyone that Nat had become a Mommy Spider and Clint a daddy Hawk.

Thursday night was group dinner night. It was the one night they all assembled together to eat dinner (though they all spent plenty of time together anyway in mix and matched groups). Peter had stayed because it was late and Aunt May had a night shift. Steve, Wanda, Darcy and Clint had cooked. They were arguably the best at cooking in the tower. So as they dug into the food and conversation started at the table. It was almost impossible to hear anything but everything stopped when Peter and Pietro got into an arguement.

"Yeah, like you would win in a fight against me. I have super speed."

"Let me tell you something. If we were in a fight there would be good news and bad news. Good News? You'd be on the front page. Bad news? It'd be a picture of me beating the daylights out of you."

Everyone heard and erupted into laughter. Harley was still trying to catch his breath and hid his face in Pepper's shoulder to muffle his giggling when Clint spoke up.

"We sure Peter isn't Tony's love child? Or his clone? How many snarky genius superheroes are there?"

Tony guffawed and Peter turned red. Then Tony said, "C'mon, if Peter's anyone's secret child it's Nat's. He's a sneaky baby spider who can get past anything, can turn from awesome nice to scary. He trains with her, can do splits no man can, and has an acrobatic fighting style. He even uses the vents!"

Everyone almost conceded to that. Natasha had taken a liking to Peter. She did start training him after noticing their similiar styles of fighting and found him to be charming. She and Clint had pretty much claimed him and the twins as their kids. The issue was almost everyone fought over Peter more about that later.

But Clint was right too, Peter had Tony's genius and snark. Sometimes he even had the ego. The two got on in ways that Tony only ever got along with Harley. He wasn't connected but he was almost there.

Nat smirked at Tony's comment. Everyone else was trying to hold in their laughter at Peter's face which looked like he was wearing his mask it was so read. Then the Widow spoke, "C'mon. Peter's obviously Caps. Or at least his Grandchild. He has Cap's sense of justice and his leadership skills. He uses the Shield well, or he did that time Cap threw it at him and he caught and kept it hostage for the rest of practice. Cap was almost worthy and Peter was. Plus, Peter has superstrength."

"But you also have superserum Tash. In fact I'm pretty sure that there's a logical answer for this. He's all of theirs. They've been cheating on us with Steve," Clint said to Pepper jokingly snarling Steve's name.

"Sounds about right," Pepper agreed.

Steve and Tony choked on their food. Nat just smirked like she found this amusing. Peter was still red but openly laughing now.

"So Peter's my older brother? Cool!"

"You'd be a good little bro. I don't think I mind that title," Peter laughed. "As long as none of this is mentioned in front of Aunt May."

Everyone in the Tower, besides Harley, considered Peter their Spider baby. Darcy and Wanda considered him a new adorable little brother, they watched TV marathons with him, teased him, and mother henned him (not to the extent of Natasha and Pepper. Pietro was Peter's bro, a protective big brother role was included in that, but mostly they pranked others, did other teenage boy things like played video games, ate junk food, marathoned movies, wrestled and made stupid jokes. Pietro often went on patrol with Peter as well. Vision and Peter had no real large relationship, besides working in the lab together.

Harley's relationship with Peter hadn't changed much. He still idolized the older boy, who sometimes took him on rides swinging over the city. (It wasn't like Tony didn't take him flying secretly). They worked together in the lab, did puzzles together, played pranks, joked, fake wrestled, had tickle fights, argued and acted like brothers.

Sam liked the kid, he served as the team's therapist and realized that the death of Peter's parents and uncle ben were bigger issues than the kid let on. He was deeply concerned about the kid, so he kept an eye on Peter. He found the kid really amusing.

Rhodey liked the kid. A lot. First meeting him, Rhodey was immidiatley reminded of Tony when he first met the 16 year old Billionaire genius on MIT. Both had tragic pasts, though different backgrounds, had genius intellect and hid thier hurt behind their snark. Peter didn't hang out with Rhodey a lot but when he did, he and Harley listened intently to War Machine's latest story.

Jane thought Peter was a smart kid. He had a real future in the world of science, but their relationship in the lab was as far as it ever went. Thor liked the kid, he was worthy of holding Mjolnir meant that he was a great hero. Peter found Thor funny and helped him learn about the world. He took the job of showing Thor the real New York, distracting the Thunder god while Jane was in the lab. That was at least for the month after Ultron till Thor left to Asgard. The Avengers were on guard with the news that Loki was alived and had posed of the king of Asgard and the real one was missing. Thor went back to where he was needed and took care of his duties.

Bruce and Peter had pretty much the same relationship as Bruce and Harley. Bruce, the smart crazy scientist uncle, taught both boys about science and especially with Peter's interest in BioChem the two worked together well. The Hulk took to Peter like he took to noone, not even Tony. Everyone was confused by that but Hulk loved Bugman and would calm down as soon as he saw Peter, either to listen to Cap's commands and turn back into Bruce. Peter seemed to get something about the Hulk that no one else did.

Steve thought Peter had the makings of a hero. He didn't like the idea of the kid being out on the street but he knew none of them could stop him. The only thing they could do was to not let him officially join the Avengers team. He helped Nat train Peter seeing a lot of himself in the young man who had such a strong sense of justice. He was teaching Peter to handle his super strength better and had gotten closer to the kid through that. Peter often asked him about the war joking there weren't many veterans around any more. He was the only one that dared bring it up, even though he was sensitive to what Steve had lost, Peter knew rememberign was better than forgetting. He also saw Peter's leadership skills. He had a feeling the kid would end up leading his own team not far in the future.

Nat had become Peter's Momma Spider, she was tough but she seemed to love him all the same. Since he met the Avenger's it seemed he had so many more mothers than he should. Nat was the one that trained him. She taught Peter to sneak up on people, pick locks and tell a decent lie. She also went soft once and a while when Peter needed. She was Wanda and Pietro's mama spider to but somehow not as much as Peter's. He needed her more. She needed to protect his innocence as long as possible. Wanda and Pietro had little left, Peter however had lost and seen a lot but he had not lost that laughter or light on his eyes. He never would on her watch.

Clint thought Peter was the best thing ever. Or at least him, Natasha, Wanda and Pietro. And Coulson, when he was alive. The kid was witty, hilarious, and a great fighter. Clint had really bonded with Peter over their love of high places and shared sense of humor. The first time Clint went swinging with Peter on the way back to the tower from accompaning Spiderman on Patrol, he fell in love with the feeling. Now that he and Tasha had three "kids" Clint spent a lot of time with each of them. Most often with Pietro and Peter it was doing things like playing video games or planning a prank.

Pepper only got to know Peter really well after the Ultron debacle. Before that he was just Tony's intern who hung out around the lab. But after she realized how he had saved Harley and piccked up Thor's hammer to smash Ultron saving Tony too, she decided to get to know the kid. She took the time during her long vacation after Sokovia. Immidiatley she saw the potential in Peter, he was a smart kid, who acted a lot like Tony but at the same time not. It was like he was Harley but an older and different version. Honestly she was pretty sure both were Tony's biological kids. She often spent time with both boys, initiating a movie marathon for all the Avengers. (Peter either cuddled with her Tony and Harley or was jacked by one of the others, usually the twins or Natasha and Clint). All movies were screened by her beforehand, most people in the tower had a traumatic circumstance they couldn't stand to see brought up the movie (Like the Fox and the Hound for Steve which reminded him of Bucky). Pepper became the mom he could tell about his superhero activities, how he was afraid to ask out that girl in school in case she found out was Spiderman.

Tony had been the one, besides Harley, that Peter first felt connected too. The man didn't know he was Spiderman so he didn't care. He appreciated Peter's intelligence and snark, like only Aunt May and Uncle Ben had. Tony had wanted to help Peter get farther in life. When Peter's identity as Spiderman was revealed he still treated him the same. Just Tony treated him the same. The others saw him as something worth more, not that he minded, but still. Tony still only wanted to help Peter through his education, sometimes that meant experimenting with Spiderman's tools and costume. It was only Peter asked for his help as a hero that he was given it. Tony was the one Peter went to for just about everything. Most times they wouldn't talk, they would just work together in silence not needing words to communicate the science. Harley would join them often, somehow all three were able to work together in that strange silent way. (Reaffirming Pepper's and almost everyone else's joking theory they were actually related.)

Before the Avengers all Peter ever had (at least since he was 4) was Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Then it was just Aunt May, she was his everything. That was until he met Harley and therefore the Avengers. Now he had two new sets of parents (Tony, Pepper, Clint and Natasha) to accompany the first he had lost and dad (Uncle Ben). He had a new best friend and a younger brother figure. He had people who could help him with his powers, people that understood. He had a complete family, friends who were there.


	26. Chapter 26: Asgard and Other Adventures

**Chapter 26: The Lightning Lady of Asgard and other Adventures**

"Before I leave for Japan I want you to tell me the rules one last time," Pepper said to Peter, Wanda and Pietro. She was intimidating in her 4-inch heels and business suit with her arms crossed across her chest like that.

"FRIDAY has the emergency numbers. But just in case they're in the drawer," started Wanda.

"No taking Harley outside the tower for anything but school. For that I will take him to Peter's house and he will go with him," Pietro said.

"Harley and I aren't allowed to use the lab while you're gone," Peter groaned.

"Harley has to be in bed at 9:30," Wanda said next, "And check in's twice everyday. Before school and before bed. I'll call you so you don't have to worry about the time difference."

"No powers on your floor but is that really a rule? You can't expect us not to use powers?" Pietro protested.

"I mean it Pietro. No powers," Pepper spoke sternly.

Behind her Tony mouthed, "Use them all you want. You're kids have fun!"

Peter and Wanda stifled their laughs as Pietro smirked.

The three teens were watching Harley, because all the towers residents besides themselves would be gone for the next three or four days. Tony was going with Pepper to Japan for a business trip. Clint and Natasha would be visiting Laura and the kids then spending time in discussions with an adoption agency. Rhodey was going to D.C for a meeting with the military. Steve and Sam were going on another search for Bucky for the next week. Vision had decided to take the week to learn about humans outside the tower. Bruce had been contacted by Betty Ross, they were meeting discreetly because she had info for him to pass on the Avengers, so he should be gone for a while too. Jane and Darcy were going to visit Thor on Asgard to see how his search for Odin was going. They had intel that someone in New York knew something about the AllFather's whereabouts and were going to pass it onto to Thor. (**Doctor Strange!)**. With no other options Pepper had to trust the three teens and the android to watch her son.

"Pepper you don't need to worry. We will all be fine," Wanda soothed, "Go, the car's waiting and Pietro's already started taking down your bags."

Just then the whitehaired teen zoomed back into the room blowing the girls hair into their faces. He picked up a bag and zoomed back out, Wanda spit a strand of hair out of her mouth and glared at the doorway.

"I'm going to make dinner. Have a safe flight. You two come find me when you're done," she told Peter and Harley.

"Peter, I'm not your mother but be careful. Check in with Wanda before and after patrol and call in Pietro for back up if you need. Keep Harley safe for me, at school and outside," she ruffled the teen's hair.

Meanwhile Harley was saying goodbye to Tony, "Have fun, okay? No cool science experiments or technological breakthroughs without me though. And don't try to follow Peter on patrol again! He's only allowed to bring you swinging if you're in danger. Don't try to use one of the suits either. I'll know if you do, you know how?"

"Because we're connected," Harley said jumping into his father's arms for a hug.

"Yeah, because we're connected. Plus FRIDAY will tell me everything. Otherwise have fun and go crazy," Tony finished. He then went to go talk to Peter letting Pepper say goodbye to their son.

"Don't do anything crazy without me. If you get hurt taking out a criminal or fooling around in the lab while I'm not here for you I'll never forgive myself. Just make sure you all stay safe. Take care of Harley. I'm trusting you with him, and you, Pietro and Wanda better not throw a party while we're gone at least notwithout me."

"I promise not to do anything to fun without you. Though I don't know Harley and I probably will break that promise within an hour. And You stay safe too."

"I will kiddo," Tony chuckled giving Peter a squeeze on the shoulder.

"Listen to Pietro, Wanda and Peter. Especially Wanda. Peter's in charge while you're at school. No Lab. Just stay on this floor, Pietro and Wanda are sleeping in our extra room. The usual rules still apply, homework first, no friends over, tell an adult if you saw something that might be dangerous and everything else. Have fun at school, sweetie. We'll miss you," She gave him a final hug and kiss on the cheek.

"I will mom. Have fun in Japan! We'll video call you when you're on the SI jet."

When the door closed behind them, Peter and Harley went to go find Wanda and Pietro.

**At the Barton Farm**

"So how'd the first meetings go?" Laura asked as she gave mugs of coffee to her brother and sister in law.

"The lawyers Pepper set us up with, Nelson and Murdock, sent us the names of several reliable adoption agencies. We stopped the quinjet at the first one in Chicago for a few hours on the way here," Nat took a long sip of coffee.

"All the files they had us look at just didn't seem right. The kids we met were sweet but none of them felt like they could be ours," Clint said.

"When you do find the right kid you'll be great parents. The kids were so excited to hear you were coming for a week. Lila and Cooper are really excited for you to meet Nate," Laura said then cocked her head. " I think it might be time for you to meet him now. Come," she led them upstairs to meet their newest nephew for the first time.

**Where Bruce is meeting Betty **

Betty had a conference in western Penssylvania, the middle of nowhere, so she asked Bruce to meet her there. Natasha and Clint dropped him off on the way to Chicago and had told him to call them when they were done. So Bruce met Betty at the road diner she had sent him directions to. He purposely hadn't shaved in a week or so. So he walked in in a puffy vest on top of a flannel shirt and wearing a baseball cap with a bit of scruff, looking like any trucker driving their cargo across the country. He ordered a cup of coffee and sat down. Betty joined him a few minutes later. After akwardly embracing and a bit of catching up the two got down to business.

"So now that we're through with the pleasantries what did you need to talk to me about?" Bruce asked.

"My father brought me to another of those horrible military dinners. This Colonel was showing off to me by telling me some nformation he had just learnt. S.H.I.E.L.D is still running. He says they're definitley not Hydra anymore and he dropped a few names to try and impress me even more. An Agent May, Agent Tripp and Agent Morse were mentioned. Along with a Drs. Fitz-Simmons."

"Tony and Steve have had their suspicions especially after Sokovia. But this is actual intel, thank you for telling me. What did you say was the name of the guy that dropped this in an attempt to flirt?"

"Don't you get overprotective," Betty mock scolded. "But the jerk's name was Glenn Talbot. I'm also pretty sure he was married." **(In the comics he's her ex-husband)**

"Sounds like a class act," Bruce laughed.

"It was really nice to see you Bruce, but I need to get going Dad always insists on keeping a guard on me during these things. I'm only able to avoid them for so long," she said getting up and pecking him on the cheek.

"Stay safe Betty."

"You too Bruce."

**On Asgard in Heimdal's Bifrost entrance**

"Darcy! Jane!" Thor greeted the former with a bone crushing hug before giving Jane a quick chaste kiss.

"I missed you too big guy," Darcy said.

"Darcy this is Heimdal the All-Seer," Thor introduced her to the other man in the room.

"So can you see where Thor's old-man is? Or if Wanda found my chocholate stash while we've been gone?"

"Sadly I cannot find the All-Father. Powerful magic blocks him from my sight. As for your chocholate it is safe for now. She has her hands full making sure the boys with her do not break the house rules," Heimdal chuckled.

"It's nice to see you again Heimdal. I don't believe I got to thank you for all you did for us last time I was here. And I'm very sorry for Darcy's behavior. She's very curious and excitable," Jane said.

"It is no trouble Lady Jane," Heimdal said with a small bow.

Outside the the golden dome waited Fandral with two horses. Thor helped Jane onto one then mounted in front she held on tight so she didn't fall off. Darcy looked hesistantly at the horse.

"Don't worry Lady Darcy. I will not led you fall while we ride towards the palace," Fandral told her. He knelt letting her use his knee as a mounting block.

"You're Fandral right? The one called the "Dashing"? I can see why. I think we met in New Mexico," Darcy said as he climbed in front of her.

"Yes, where we battled the destroyer. A difficult opponent but no trouble for the Warriors three," Fandral puffed out his chest boastfully.

"Fandral, please do not try and woo Lady Darcy. I would hate to have to hurt you once you break her heart," Thor scolded as they started their gallop to the palace.

"I break her heart? More likely she break's mine!" Thor's blond friend held his hands to his chest and swooned dramatically.

"I didn't get to thank you for your help either Fandral," Jane said sensing this could go on for a while.

"No need, and save the rest of your thanks for the welcome feast with Sif and the rest of the warriors three," Fandral said as they rode through the city gates. The people of Asgard were waiting there to greet them. Cheers broke out across the city from all the residents of Asgard's golden capital.

"It's Lady Jane, Thor's beloved!"

"And the Lightning Lady. Darcy," could be heard.

"That's the Lightning Lady?"

"Aye."

"Will any of Thor's other midguardian friends be coming? I want to see the Man of Iron. Or meet the one with a Hawk's eye. Or.. Or," A child told his mother.

"No, just the Studier of Stars and the Lightning Lady."

Jane and Darcy only caught bits of the words among the cheers. They finally reached the palace and the men helped them both down from thier mounts. Thor led them inside the palace to a door.

"Here, we set up the best guest room. The servants set out some Asgardian robes for you both. If you need anymore help I'll be in the palace getting ready for the feast as well," Thor said. He opened the door for them and let them inside.

The two were in a room with two beds buried in purple and gold pillows, furs, and shimmery silver blankets. There was a balcony where they could view the city and two dressing tables with mirrors. Bowls of fruit were on the table as well as what seemed like sweets.

"Oh, I could get used to this!" Darcy said flopping down on the bed.

"I thought you liked the tower?" Jane asked putting her stuff down.

"I do. But now I'm used to this, I'm ready to be spoiled on a whole nother level."

"You can be spoiled later. We should get dressed for dinner now," Jane said. "Thor said that all of Asgardians nobles and warriors will be at dinner. We're sitting with just him, Sif and the warriors three. So we won't be with complete strangers but we need to be presentable."

Thor knocked on the door an hour later to get the two women. Both had dressed in the clothes they were given and Jane had found something similiar to a straightening/curling iron. Darcy wore a red dress with black leather leggings and a vest of the same material on top. The green dress had tones of green that shone as light shined on it from different angles. Jane wore a tight royal blue wrap in the style of asgard. She had a silver chain mail belt around her waist and a red underskirt the same color as the same color as Thor's cape swished around her ankles. The red layer under the royal blue dress was a nice contrast. The hall was crowded with Asgardians they had never seen, but Thor quickly led them over to the smallest table where there was room for just them, Sif, plus the Warriors Three. Greetings were exchanged and then they dug in.

"So, what was with that thing on the streets?" Darcy asked Thor and Fandral. "They were calling us the Lightning Lady and the Studier of Stars."

"Stories about the royal family are passed around quickly. The servants obviously overheard Thor's report to Odin and Frigga. The people of the streets heard and Jane became the Studier of the Stars," Sif said. "And you Darcy became the Lightning Lady. You're the particular favorite of the people."

"Yes, they find it amusing I was taking down with a lightning device. To some you're more of a hero than Jane. One must be powerful to take down the prince with his own source of power," Thor chuckled.

"Yah hear that Janey? I've got my own fanclub," Darcy smiled.

"I heard. Now I wanted to thank you all for helping me the last time was here. We couldn't have escaped without you," Jane said.

"It is no problem. But you must be here for more than visiting?" Hogan asked.

"Yes. As you know I'm the one along with Ex-Agent Hill, to search through any information online that might be useful to the Avengers. We got information from someone in New York about an Old Man with Odin's description. We came to tell you that it should probably checked out," Darcy said.

"That would mean bringing Loki back to New York with me to check it out," Thor groaned.

"The others won't like that Natasha will kill him," Jane said.

"I've heard about this Natasha, the beautiful redheaded warrior? I should come as well," decided Fandral.

"No!" Volstagg laughed. "She sounds like Sif and that would have you beheaded within a minute."

"I shall go with Thor to restrain Loki. I am very familiar with Midgard now with all my recen..." Sif suddenly seemed to remember who she was at the table with.

"You were on earth and didn't visit? Hurtful!" Darcy joked.

"Sif, when did you visit Midgard and for what Purpose?" Thor asked.

"For what I thought was the All-Father the first time. TO capture Lorlei with the help of SHIELD before it fell. The second time to catch a Kree. I met with a part of SHIELD still running, some of the Avengers know the man who runs it. He's trustworthy. But they were harboring a Kree experiment. Ones that call themselves Inhumans," Sif said.

"Wait, SHIELD is still runnning?" Jane asked. "How did none of us know this?"

"That is less important than the other matter at hand. What happened with this Inhuman?" Thor said.

"I have a feeling you'll meet her soon along with the rest of this SHIELD unit. She sedated herself to save us from her powers," Sif said. "I know she is not harmful, if there are others I am not sure."

"So you will accompany me and Loki to Midgard when it is time to search for the All-Father," Thor said.

"Any other secrets that need reveling before we all retire?" joked Volstagg.

"I am sure there is no more," Hogan said, "Let us just think on all we have learnt."

"I do have one question. Do you guys have anymore of those delicious golden apples? Frigga gave me one the last time I was here and it's been in the back of my mind since," Jane smiled at the memory of the taste.

The Asgardians there all gaped at her for a few minutes. Darcy and Jane looked at them questioningly.

"You said you ate a golden apple? One that Frigga gave you?" Fandral asked.

"Yes?" Jane said in confusion.

"An apple of Idunn," Sif gasped.

"An apple of who now?" Darcy spoke up.

"These apples gift one an Asgardian lifespan. My mother must have thought that you were deserving. Only two or three others have been gifted with this honor," Thor said.

"Jane's going to live forever?" Darcy almost yelled.

"No, just for around two thousand years or so more than she would. I'm only around 1,300," Fandral said, "Still at my prime."

"Thor warned you not to talk like that to the Midguardians," warned Hogan.

"I thank my mother again for this gift. Jane, I thought I would have to live the majority of my life without you. Something that pained me much, but that is no longer a worry. We shall be together, in Asgard or Midgard, for all these years to come," Thor vowed.

"So I'm going to live as long as you? I'm sorry, I need to think about all of this," Jane said rushing out of the room.

"Jane!" Darcy said rushing out behind her.

Thor got up to chase after them both but Sif pulled him back down. None of the Asgardians at the table ate another bite.


	27. Chapter 27: Revelations

**Chapter 27: Revelations**

The morning after Tony and Pepper left was Chaos. The alarm in Wanda's room didn't go off so she didn't wake Pietro or Harley on time. Harley had to race to get dressed and get his stuff together. Wanda packed him lunch using her powers, the paper bag flew around the room to catch an apple thrown like a baseball. Then it waited patiently as the bread floated mid-air to be smothered in peanut butter by the jar. Pietro ran to the nearest coffee shop to get some breakfast for all of them. Harley stuffed his mouth quickly and was put scooped up by Pietro mid-swallow. The speedster supported Harley's head like a baby incase of whiplash and ran them to was waiting outside for them.

"You guys are late, I'm not sure if we'll get to the subway in time," he said.

"Well, I can't run you there. My powers are only supposed to be used for this purpose or for fighting while the others are gone. Good Luck!"

With that the speedster was gone and the other two boys were left in a shower of leaves blown upon them by the wind the speedster generated. Peter picked a leaf out of Harley's hair and Harley finally swallowed the food in his stuff mouth. The two met each others eyes.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" said the 15 year old.

"Whoever wins gets to choose the others lab chores! And no powers!" answered the 11 year old.

Both took off in a sprint in the direction of the subway. Peter had to consciously think about not using his extra strength and agility to win. He didn't want those lab chores, cleaning up after yourself was the worst thing about lab work. Especially in Stark Tower where it really got messy. Harley was panting as they reached the subway entrance two blocks away. Peter had beat him easily, even though he wasn't using his powers for speed he had the better endurance.

"Sorry kiddo. We'll find something you can beat me at," Peter said as they headed down the stairs and entered the subway.

"It's no fair!" Harley whispered. He knew he wasn't allowed to talk about the Avengers as his family in public, only as the regular middle school fanboy. But Peter's super hearing could pick up on whispers like they were yells. "All the other kids/teens in the tower have powers. You guys are so cool and get to save the world."

"You're parents definitley don't want you to become a hero. You're exposed enough. And aren't Clint and Tash planning on adopting? That kid won't have super powers."

"You don't know that! They might have the power of the being a good shot like Uncle Clint, or be as scary as Auntie Nat," Harley said.

"That last one is definitley the best power," Peter shuddered, "But Clint, Sam, Rhodey and your dad are good examples of the thing I think you should know. You don't need powers to be super. Once you do have the powers, you probably won't want them. With great power comes great responsibility."

"Dude, you totally copied that line from a comic book or something," Harley laughed attracting the attention of the other people on their train car. But they were New Yorkers, they quickly became bored and stopped looking.

"No. It's something my Uncle Ben used to say. It's kind of become my motto," Peter cracked a smirk.

"I still kind of wish I had a power. Then I could be a hero with a motto to live by," Harley said as they climbed back up on to the street.

"Uh huh. You know something Harles? You have something the motto with you," Peter laughed and sped up as they reached the front of school.

"Ha ha, Peter. You know you're the only one who finds puns like that funny," Harley said catching up.

Then the bell rang. The two boys wide eyes met once again with an identical expression on their faces. The same thought entered their mind.

_"__Shoot!"_

Harley grabbed a seat next to his friend Miles after mumbling a hurried apology to his History teacher. Miles's dark eyes swam with laughter that was unsuccesfully trying to break through his mouth. Harley glared at him and pulled out his notes. Then he felt something hit his head. On the floor was a crumpled up paper ball. Miles gestured opening it and Harley sighed doing so.

_"__Bro, why you late?"_

_"__Mom and Dad were gone. The person who is watching me woke me up late," _Harley wrote back.

_"__If your parents are gone maybe I can finally come over! It'd be so fun to finally see where you live. You're so secretive about you're home life. All I know is that you moved to New York after you were adopted. I mean, come on man, you've been to my place,"_ was the reply he received.

_"__Yes, tell Ms. Morales thank you again. But no, my parents have the rules for reasons. I do want to tell you but I can't. Sorry. Plus if I broke them the people watching me would know and my parents have a good security system."_

_"__My mom told you to call her Rio. And that answer totally sucks. One day you're telling me everything. I mean for most people a house with no parents means a party,"_ Miles replied.

_"__Even if I did have a party who would I invite? This does not mean I am having one,"_ Harley replied. Then the teacher appeared over his desk.

"Mr. Keene (**he used a fake name in school, Harley Keene, for protection)**, what do you have here? You must already know the answer to this question if you're passing notes."

"Sorry maa'm," Harley did a perfect imitation of his Uncle Steve. "It shouldn't happen again." He looked toward the board where the question was written.

"The answer to your question is that the Soviet Union was based in Russia. I have an Aunt who was born there. The U.S was their main opponent in the Cold War. Intelligence agencies caused paranoia, people thought spies were everywhere."

_'__They totally are,'_ Harley thought snickering at the lucky question. His family was well-versed in anything from 1930 on. Some of them had even lived through it.

"Thank you Mr. Keene. Now Mr. Power," the teacher turned on Harley's friend Alex. "Answer this question..."

**AN: The Power Pack is a Marvel Superhero team of siblings. Alex is the oldest.**

By the end of the day all of Harley's friends knew his parents were out of town. He was still adamant about not having them over. He couldn't risk it. Plus, Kamala's parents didn't let her out on a school night, so he argued that wouldn't be fair to her. Miles, Alex, his sister Julie, and their friend America protested but finally gave up. They agree it probably wasn't fair to Kamala. Plus they didn't want Harley to get caught. His parents did apparently have a top notch security system, both of them worked for SI. So he talked with them in the courtyard while he waited for Peter to finish his last class.

That's when it happened, a new truck pulled up to the curb in front of school. One of the teachers went to go tell them to go away but was pushed aside. Peter ran up to Harley with a panicked look on his face.

"I have a _feeling_ we need to get you home. Now," Peter pulled him away from his friends.

"I'll explain later, but I'm sure you guys will figure out what is going on soon. I hope you're not to angry with me when you do," Harley yelled.

"I think that's him!" a man with a camera pointed.

"Run!" Peter said pulling him into an alley. He experetly got rid of his clothes revealing his spandex Spiderman suit underneath. Quickly he webbed Harley onto his back and swang away.

"I thought my dad only said we could do this in a case of danger?" asked Harley.

"Yeah, I think Tony would count the paparazzi as that. We need to call your parents as soon as we get you home. And barricade the tower. Oh, Aunt May is gonna freak!" Peter moaned.

"My whole social life was ruined. People are gonna bother me about living with the Avengers and my friends will be mad I kept this a secret. Miles never stops asking me about the time I met Spiderman and America is in love with Cap," Harley said.

"I'm flattered, and honestly I've met you're friends. They're good people who like you for you. They might be mad but once everything settles down they'll be there for you. Plus, it is kind of hard to get used too who you are. I had it easy, I was already been exposed to this craziness."

"Vat craziness?" Pietro asked, as Peter flipped through the open window (the tower automatically opened one when it saw him coming now) with Harley on his back.

"They found out Harley goes to school at Midtown. Papparazzi appeared, we got away just in time. Luckily I don't think they spotted Harley on Spidey's back," Peter said, ripping Harley from the webbing. "Go dial your parents, Pietro find Wanda we all need to talk and find a way to take action. That's Aunt May calling, I'll come join you in a minute."

He picked up his phone, "I'm fine Aunt May. You know Mr. Stark asked me to help take care of Harley. I needed to get him home safe. Yes, I promise I'll be home by curfew. I will stay away from the news. I really need to go, I have to help explain to Mr. Stark what's happening."


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28: The Antics of a Spider, Witch, Speedster and Genius**

Peter met Harley in the Lab where Tony and Pepper's faces were thrown up like a hologram. Both were in P.J's because in Japan it was the middle of the night. They both looked really upset. Wanda looked really confused and Pietro was shaking with worry. His foot had vibrated through something he was shaking so fast.

"Harley told us that the media came to school. We're going to need a statement. Do you have any idea how they figured it out?" Tony asked.

"They only knew Harley was the kid they were looking for when I had him run for it. We might have stay concealed otherwise, I'm so sorry," the teen apologized.

"Peter you don't need to apologize. You got Harley out of there unharmed and that's whats important. Just keep him inside the tower, got it? None of you are to leave. Except Peter, but tell your Aunt that you've been invited to stay overnight while it calms down. I'll issue a statement. I really could use Darcy's help right now but Maria should be able to handle it. Harley, don't contact any of your friends. You can talk to them all after. Remember, powers are only to protect and Wanda is in charge of you all," Pepper said.

Pietro opened his mouth to protest. But Tony beat him to it (how is it possible to beat a speedster in being fast?). "Pietro we know you're older. But Wanda is more likely to think rationally. She's the responsible one, but I trust you to protect everyone else. Got it? We're going to try and start handling this. Figuring out who in the school spilled," snarled Tony. "Whoever did is really going to regret messing with me. Goodbye, all of you stay safe."

"We love you Harley," Pepper said then hung up.

"Come," Wanda gestured, "Peter take Harley to get into Pajamas then choose a movie. Does grilled cheese and tomato soup sound okay for dinner? Pietro go find some marshmallows and whip cream for hot chocholate. Then find some clothes Peter can wear as pajamas."

"What about patrol?" Peter asked.

"The city will manage without you for a night. Go with Harley and call your Aunt to let her know you're staying over night," Wanda ordered.

"Fine," Peter pouted, "Just make sure you make a lot of sandwitches. You have three boys who need feeding, two with hyper accelerated metabolisms."

Wanda just smiled as Peter stormed off after Harley. She got to work using her powers to cook once again. Pietro ran through the kitchen and lay th eingredients for hot chocholate on the counter then raced off to come back in a Flash t-shirt and red plaid p.j pants. He held a pair of ironman patterned sweat pants and a Cap t-shirt. He also had a mischevous look on his face.

"What are you up too?" Wanda asked knowing that look all to well.

"Harley needs some cheering up. Just keep Peter distracted for a few minutes. Actually, can you persuade him that he needs to take a shower? I'll have Harley help me while you do that."

"Help you with what?" said kid asked as he entered back in with Peter. He wore p.j's with with science beakers decorating the legs and a math equation on the shirt.

"Finding blankets for a fort. Lots of pillows too. C'mon!" he pulled Harley away.

Peter looked at Wanda, "That's not a bad idea. Can I help you with anything?"

"No, I've got everything here handled. You can help me by taking a shower, you smell like sweat."

"Really Wanda? Low blow!" Peter complained.

"Go!" she commanded and started pushing him out with her powers. The clothes Pietro had left for him flew into his arms.

"No powers! I'm the only one that's been following the rules!" he yelled as he went to the bathroom.

"To get work done," she said.

"I heard that! And Still!" he yelled back.

"Peter just get in the shower!" she ordered. Harley and Pietro returned laughing together with blankets and pillows in their arms. They started assembling thier fort and Wanda brought them both Hot chocholate.

"Poor Peter. Whatever you two have planned for him is sure to be bad," she chuckled.

"It is. Harley to you have that camera ready?" Pietro asked.

"Yeah. Thanks for the help Wanda and for the cocoa," Harley replied.

"Don't make Peter suffer more by eating all the food before he gets here!" Wanda scolded hitting the several sandwitches Pietro snatched out of his hand. The ladle that had started pouring soup into bowls by ittself spilled a little then resumed working.

"Don't touch anything. I'm going to run and change," she said.

She returned a few minutes later in a purple shirt and red shorts (**Magneto colors). **She got comfortable in the blanket fort with the other boys when Peter stormed in.

"What did you do?" he yelled at Pietro.

"I wanted to show the family resemblance," Pietro said. "Now you look like all three of your parents."

Harley snapped a picture. Peter's hair was the same red as Natasha's, he wore the Ironman pants and cap shirt. Wanda was giggling and Harley was cracking up. Peter was livid.

"You were in on it too? You rascal! You all better be on the lookout. I'm going to get my revenge."

"You can plan you're revenge after we eat," Wanda said serving them all then sitting back down. "Now what movie are we watching?"

"The Princess Bride and then The Incredibles. If we're not asleep by then we'll choose more," Peter said.

"I chose the incredibles for you and Pietro," Harley told Wanda. "Like Dad said Violet's weird and Dash is fast."

"Sounds like us all right," Pietro agreed through a mouthful of food.

Harley fell asleep in the beginning of the Princess Bride. Pietro was out next. Wanda grabbed one of the blankets from the fort and went to sleep on the couch leaving Peter awake. He was used to being up late because of patrol. He quitley went and got his backpack from under the table and put on his webshooters and smiled.

**The next morning**

Harley woke up feeling dizzy. He could still feel all the hot chocholate and sandwitches in his stomach and feeing as naseuos as he did he didn't think it was going to be there much longer. Was he sick? He opened his eyes and yelled.

"Get me down!"

Pietro, Wanda and Peter woke up as well. Pietro tiredly raised his arms to rub his eyes and found he couldn't. His arms and legs were stuck, he couldn't even vibrate to release himself. Wanda sat up immidiatley and looked around for danger. She broke into laughter at the sight that greeted her.

Peter was on the ceiling it looked like he had slept there. They were all used to seeing him on the ceiling doing excersizes, pacing or jumping down to ambush and unsuspecting Avenger. Wanda was not used to seeing her brother and Harley up there as well. Peter had webbed them to the ceiling last night.

"They flew into the spiders web," yawned Peter.

"Don't your webs usually only stay for an hour before dissolving?" Harley asked. "How long have I been up here? I feel naseous."

"Sorry buddy. I'll get you down. You were just an accomplice. Pietro needs to stay punished. As for your question this is my new long lasting formula. It's made for supers like Pietro, Steve or even the Hulk!"

"What's made for the Hulk?" Bruce said walking in with Natasha and Clint. "Oh, I see you tested out the new webbing."

Clint pulled out his phone to snap a few pictures, he was to focused on Harley and Pietro to notice Peter till Natasha said something.

"I trained you well in the art of revenge little spider. Good job webbing them up without waking them!" she laughed.

Clint turned to look at Peter and barely managed to choke his words through his laughter, "Oh my gosh. Are you sure you're not related? With that hair color he looks just like you! Pepper and I were right. You had a kid with Tony and Steve."

Bruce sighed, "Peter get Harley down. Pietro you can torture for a little longer."

"Why are you guys back so early?" he asked as he pulled apart the webbing and lowered Harley to the floor.

"Steve and Tony called at once. Steve needed all of us back home for something and Tony wanted us here to wait with you for him and Pepper. We were going to fly back anyway. Clint and I didn't find what we needed in Chicago and Bruce's tip, while useful, only took a few hours to receive," Natasha answered.

"Jane sent word that she and Darcy won't be back for a while. They've discovered something alarming about what happened when she was last there. We haven't heard from Vision but everyone else should be back soon," Clint said. "There's a lot to talk about."


	29. Chapter 29: Alarming News

**Chapter 29: Alarming News from All Sides**

The next to arrive back was Vision, who greeted Wanda akwardly under Pietro's glare. Nat whispered something in Clint's ear seeming to point it out. The archer clenched his fist, he agreed with Pietro, Wanda wasn't old enough to date! Especially a robot created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. He turned to glare at Bruce who mouthed an apology. Peter was holding back his laugh and Harley just looked confused.

Rhodey was the next to return. He asked Harley how he was coping the reveal and promised his nephew that he was always there if he needed anything. He promised that everything would turn out all right even if everyone knew who he was at school.

Next came Tony and Pepper. They raced in and immediatley hugged Harley tight. Natasha smirked sadly. Wanda snapped pictures discreetly.

"It's gonna be okay, we have experience taking care of the nosy media," Tony told his son.

"Even if we take care of them my friends will still be mad at me!" Harley sobbed into Pepper's shoulder.

"I'm sure that's not true. They might be mad for a bit then they'll remember that it doesn't matter. If I'm wrong then they're not your true friends. But you'll have everyone in the tower no matter what happens. Remember that we all still love you," she tells him.

Tony gets up from the group hug to find Peter. The teenager is explaining to Aunt May that he'll need to stay a bit longer. Seeing Tony he quickly says goodbye and hangs up the phone.

"It's getting harder and harder to keep this from her," he says.

"You don't have too. You just saw that secrets come out eventually," Tony said.

"That secret didn't have to come out. I'm really sorry for what happened," Peter apologized.

"Peter I already told you that you don't need to be sorry. You got Harley out of here and was there for him when Pepper and I couldn't be. Thank you," he said.

"What do I do Tony? I can't put her in danger! I don't want to disappoint her when she learns I've been lying to her," Peter suddenly cried out. Tony knew they were back on the topic of Aunt May.

"There's no way that she'll be disappointed in you. Peter you've done so much for this city and all the people in it."

"I've still lied to her. I've put myself and her in danger," Peter sniffed.

"Well then, we'll have to tell her that someone's protecting you both. When we figure out whats going on with all this and everything calms down why don't we invite her to the tower. The team can sit down with you when you tell her. They've all been wanting to meet May for a while, and I think Natasha and Pepper are even a little bit jealous of her."

"They shouldn't be. You guys are just as much of a family to me as she is at this point, I just feel that I've been neglecting her because of that."

"You don't have too. Plus having another woman around the tower, one who's experienced in raising a kid, will make the girls happy."

Peter laughed through his tears at Tony's comment. "I'd like that. I think she might too."

"Do you want to help me find the twins? I need to thank them too. Especially for this!" Tony gestured to the red hair on Peter's head and his IronMan/Cap PJs. "I guess Pepper and Clint were right."

"Well did Pietro tell you how I got my revenge? Actually ask Wanda she'll tell you!" Peter laughed. He walked with Tony to the twins shared area on Clint and Natasha's floor. Pietro and Wanda were arguing loudly. Peter caught a few words including Vision, dating and stupid. Laughing he turned to Tony.

"You might want to be prepared. Pietro's a bit upset at Vision right now, Clint too probably. Since you and Bruce helped create him... Well," he trailed of and opened the door to the room.

Pietro and Wanda stopped arguing and looked at Tony. Tony smiled awkwardly, Peter scratched his head and quickly decided to walk out.

"I wanted to thank you both. Harley was able to cope with being revealed because of your actions. Honestly I'm a bit jealous of the movie night you had. Hot chocholate, grilled cheese, a blanket fort and a great prank!"

"Thank you," Pietro chuckled.

"Thanks, but I think you mean two great pranks. Pietro and Harley were webbed to the ceiling most of the night as revenge," giggled Wanda.

"Did you get pictures?" Tony asked.

"Of everything." Suddenly she looked away from Tony towards the door. "Steve and Sam are back. Someone is with them. He's confused and pained. I can feel it strongly from here," she said. In a daze she walked out of the room back to the main area. Pietro looked at Tony.

"I have something on my desk in the lab. It's labeled BARF, can you bring it to me upstairs?" Tony said.

"BARF?" Pietro snorted while speeding out of the room.

When Tony got to the common area Pietro was already there with the device. A dirty Steve and Sam were there as well. He looked at them and Steve nodded.

"We're all here. Tower meeting, now!" Tony demanded.

Everyone sat down so they could all see each other. Pietro handed Tony the BARF device. "Thanks," replied the inventor, "Steve first."

"We found him," Steve smiled sadly. "He knows who I am and what he's done. He's upset about it all. We don't have to have him stay if you don't want him too," he said to Tony.

"I'm fine with it. You told me the truth and I know it's not his fault. Tell me more about his condition," Tony said ignoring the concerned glances of Rhodey and Pepper.

"There might be residual effects. He wants us to put him down, he thinks he's hurt to many people caused too much pain. I told him that wasn't an option and he agreed to come with us. He's by himself on the bed in a locked room on my floor."

"Good. I think I have something that might work. This is BARF," Tony held up the device **(AN: from the beginning of CA: CW) **. "It allows one to go into their mind and recreate their memories letting them fix and cope with them. It can also search for any residual control. We also have Wanda's help to make sure it works."

"I would be happy to. We can begin right after this," agreed the witch twisting red energy around her fingers.

"Who's next?" Steve asked. "Clint and Natasha, any good news about other new tower residents?"

"Not yet," Clint sighed. "Bruce said he had something interesting."

"SHIELD is still running. I'm pretty sure they're the ones who sent the helicarrier to us in Sokovia. It's obviously someone Fury trusts and I think Hill knew too. (The woman was back with the army now.) From what I've heard they're responsible for most of the intel we've recieved on Hydra and taking down just as many bases as we have. They're likely trustworthy, but I'm wondering why we weren't told."

"I thought I took it all down?" Steve said.

"There are people who are stubborn. I'll reach out to contacts I still have. We'll find something and arrange a meeting. Finding Fury again may be helpful," Natasha said.

"Sounds good," agreed Steve.

Pepper spoke up, "I'll handle the media frenzy and finding out who revealed Harley. We'll need to figure out if it's safe for you to go back. It might not be safe for you to go back either," she told Peter. "Although how we explain that to your Aunt I'm not sure."

"I'm going to tell her," he announced.

"Finally!" Pietro exclaimed.

"After we handle this whole mess Tony said I could bring her here. That you'd all help me explain," he said. Everyone mumbled their consent and agreement. "At the rate things are going I think it'll probably later this week."

"Good. Pepper and I will dicuss school with you two later. Harley any concerns?" Tony asked.

The kid who was not usually included in big meetings like this looked at his father wide eyed, "No. Not really, just excited to hear some of this good news."

"Anything else?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah. Bucky asked for one thing when we brought him in. To talk to the red haired lady, Natalia Romonava."

"No. You're not talking to him, not till Tony and Wanda have cured him!" Clint said.

"Why not? He's not gonna do something," Sam said. "The guy isn't under Hydra's control anymore. They're gone now!"

"He might not be under Hydra's control but he might be under someone else's. What if this is a ploy to get to you again?" Clint said.

"It's not," Natasha assured him.

"Are you going to tell them what you told me? That is what Bucky was talking about, right?" Steve asked.

"Yes. Harley should probably leave, your parents can tell you what they think is appropriate later," Natasha said.

Harley protested, "Peter gets to stay!"

"Peter's several years older than . You should try calling your friends as well. Giving them a proper explanation. You can invite them over when everything calms down as well," Pepper said pointing to the door. Harley stomped out of the room. Then Natasha began.

I was born Natalia Aliavona Romonava in a small town in Russia in 1935."

"1935? That's not possible!" Peter protested.

"I'll explain. I had been taking dancing lessons for the past two years when someone reported my talents to the army leaders of the Soviet Union. I was five when I watched my parents killed in front of me and was forced into training at the Red Room. It was a secret orginization that trained young girls to be assasins. From the start we were trained to fight, with weapons and our bodies. Then as soon as the trainers thought we were old enough we were taught to seduce. Every few months the trainers called for a bloodbath. From the age of 6 till Clint found me I had to kill or be killed. You did something the trainers didn't like you died. We suffered all forms of torture, details that I will not go into. At the end the girl in her section that survived became The Black Widow, I was chosen at the age of 16. Then the Red Room gave me the operation, their own version of the super soldier serum. I became stronger, faster and deadlier than ever. I was also relieved of the ability to have a child, something I would never need according to my superiors," Natasha stopped and took a drink of water from the glass Clint offered. The others looked at her somberly.

"Then I was sent on missions. To attract men then kill them, to infiltrate orginizations, to send terror into hearts everywhere. After I turned 19 they started to put into a cyrogen chamber when I wasn't needed, each time I came back from a mission I was told to give a report. Sometimes I was put in a device to erase memories of what I had learnt from the outside world. I had no control over my thoughts or actions. The one thing I never did forget was my trainer. After I was chosen to become the Black Widow a man was brought to train me. We called him Yasha but he was also known as the Winter Soldier. Lets just say we became involved and it lasted for a bit before we were found out and stopped."

"So you and Cap's bestie are exes?" Tony said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yes Stark, they're exes," Clint growled.

"I'll be fine Clint. Steve can come with me and then Tony and Wanda can do what they need to do," she assured him. Getting up she walked towards the door to Bucky's room. Tony and Steve exchanged glances and shrugged, following her. Wanda looked at Clint who was clenching his fists.

"She'll be fine. Pietro why don't you help Clint look through more of the files the adoption agency sent?" she asked. Pietro led Clint out of the room and the others dispersed as well.

Natasha entered the room and waited till Steve, Tony and Wanda came in before looking at Bucky. He was in a loose red shirt and black sweatpants. His metal arm was covered by the long sleeves of the leather jacket he wore over it but the gloves he usually wore were off. His hair was still long and straggly. He had scruff along the bottom half of his face and his blue eyes looked sad.

"Natalia."

"It's Natasha now. What are you? The soldier? Yasha? Bucky? James?"

"I don't know. It's all so mixed together. So confusing... I... So many people. I killed them all. How did you deal with this? Do you remember your missions? Do you remember the faces of the friends and others you killed? Children.. Women.. Friends.. Howard..." Bucky looked up and saw Tony. "Howard? How? You... I.. the car... and.."

"I'm Tony. Howard was my father."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Bucky said.

Natasha spoke up, "To answer your question I do remember. I still have the nightmares, I still feel the pain. I'm still scared that I'm under their control. But then I remember I'm not. I can help. I have red gushing from my ledger, but I've been wiping it out. I find the families of those I hurt, sometimes I speak to them. Sometimes I just help them without them knowing. I've joined a team and I help people everyday."

"How did you get away?"

"On a mission. I was sent to kill the SHIELD agent who was sent to kill me. I surrendered. I wanted it to end. But instead he brought me in and gave me another chance. You have another chance. You can turn things around," Natasha said.

"I can't. I killed so many more people. I was under their control for so much longer. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't," Tony said. "You already apologized. Plus, you weren't in control. Dad had a long life. He wouldn't have been mad at you for long. He would have tried to fix you. Because he can't I will. This is called BARF. I made it and with this and the help of Wanda here we're going to make you better."

"It's okay Bucky. You're never going to hurt someone against your will again," Steve said. "You're free of them."


	30. Chapter 30: Seventy Years

**Chapter 30: 70 Years **

Over the next view days with the help of BARF, Sam's consulting (remember he was a war veteran who worked with others for PTSD) and Wanda's toying, Bucky started dealing with what had happened to him. Inside he knew he would never forgive himself for what he did. Steve stayed by his side the whole time. When Bucky called him Punk again for the first time, the others in the room swore they had never seen him smile brighter. Bucky almost broke down crying when the reply of jerk came.

The day before he was let out into the tower and met everyone else, Bucky and Steve were sitting together. Beside them Tony was setting up the last BARF treatment. Wanda had been exhausted from all the energy manipulating she had been doing so Vision, Clint, Natasha and Pietro had insisted on her coming with them for food and a walk. So the three were all alone sitting awkwardly in silence, besides the occasional noise from BARF.

"Stevie?" Bucky broke the silence. "What happened while we were out? I mean besides the obvious."

"What exactly are you asking Bucky?" Steve asked.

"I did my research, the internet is an amazing thing. I know what happened in history. I know how you started a team with the rest of these idiots. But while we were out, our friends were still living. What happened to them? With Peggy, Junior, Gabe, Dum Dum, Morita, Falsworth and all the others."

"They're all gone. I did my research too. Fury gave me files on what happened to each of them. Junior died on a mission to Russia. Morita and Falsworth lived in California from the 60s till they died in the 90s. Gabe Jones went back home and got married, I don't remember what he did with his life after but I know his family was involved with SHIELD. Dum Dum kept traveling, he stayed in the army and worked with SHIELD a few times. Until he got to old, he lived in DC then passed in his sleep. Except Peggy, she's living in DC in a nursing home. She has Alzheimer's (Or is it Dementia?) so going to see her is hard everytime. Sometimes she remembers that I've come out of the ice. Sometimes she forgets almost everything."

"I knew them all. Except Junior and some of the others who died in combat before I was born," Tony spoke up suddenly.

"You never told me that," Steve said in an almost accusatory fashion.

"There wasn't a need. Here, put this on." Tony handed BARF to Bucky. "I'll tell you both of you guys more when you come out."

When Bucky went under the device's influence Steve turned to Tony. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You remember that arguement we had on the helicarrier. Under the Staff's influence?"

"Yeah. Gosh, Tony I thought we were past that?"

"We are. It's just my father, he was a good guy. He loved me in his own way, but he was always busy. He was always at a meeting for SI, messing around in the lab, indulging his eccentric whims and most often searching for you. Some of my best memories of him are him telling stories about you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He got so happy, he was so animated and he wasn't even drunk. I never saw him that excited about anything, even when I built my first circuit board at 5 he waved it off. When he talked about the war though, he got misty eyed. You were my hero. I looked up to you for so long and it was when I left for college that I accepted that I never could be you."

"Why would you need to be me Tony?" Steve's confusion was clear.

"Because being with you and the commandos made my dad happy. Something I never seemed able to do."

"Tony.."

"You wouldn't understand Steve. Imagine meeting your childhood hero and him telling you what you've always hated hearing. What you knew was true, because you've never been good enough. Now I know that's not true but in the moment.."

"You should have told me. And you're right it's not true. You're so much more than a suit of armor Tony. You've proved that time and time again."

"Thanks. Come with me, he won't be done in there for another hour and I need your help to get something," Tony said walking out the door.

Steve followed hesitantly as Tony let him to face a wall on the billionaire's floor. Tony lifted his hand and pressed it against the wall. Like a cliche, it opened up to a safe door to which he entered the code and walked inside.

Looking around Steve drew in a breath. There were the shield prototypes Howard had made for him. There were pictures of all his times with his friends, pictures he had thought long lost. There was his old sketchbook. That was his old concert from his time performing with the USSO.

Tony bent down and picked up a box. Looking inside a smile lit up his face, "My dad had the largest collection of Captain America stuff out there. Most of the stuff at that exhibit in the Smithsonian are actually replica's of this. SHIELD had a lot of this stuff too. They gave me some of it when I became IronMan with my dad's stuff. Then we had the family albums, like these which are probably what I wanted to show you most."

"Howard kept this all? Coulson would have been jealous."

Tony smiled sadly at Steve's reply, "I have a feeling Coulson probably saw a lot of this stuff. I would have loved to see him fanboy over it."

"I think I would have too."

"Enough of this. If we're going to do this we're going to need Harley. I'll give you this to bring to Bucky's room. Don't look at it until I bring Harley back from his lab."

"He's still not in school?" asked Steve.

"No. We're setting up more security measures still. Luckily his friends seemed to understand, they weren't to upset with him. We're going to allow him to invite them over when Peter tells his Aunt about everything."

"Tell me if I can do something."

"Bucky will wake up soon. Go!"

Bucky was starting to wake from the device's influence when Steve walked in. Steve took the device off Bucky and placed it on a table near the wall. Then he sat down on the chair and put the box he was carrying on the floor.

"What you got there Stevie?"

"Something Tony wanted to show us. He's got a whole collection of memorobilia Howard left after the war. Like my old notebooks, pictures, the shields, even uniforms!"

"So what do you have there?"

"I'm not supposed to look until Tony comes," Steve said.

Bucky scoffed, "Like he'll really mind and since when do you listen to commands."

"It depends on the command and the reason. This is valid, let's wait."

"Waiting done.." Tony walked in with Harley.

"Wow! You have a metal arm, that's so cool! How do the joints work? What type of metal is it made of? Do you-"

"Harley, enough!"

"It's fine," Bucky said. "You're Harley, huh? What you doing living with a bunch of Superheroes?"

"Sorry, we didn't really tell him a whole lot about everyone that lives in the tower," Steve said.

"I met Tony when he was on the run from some bad guys when everyone thought he was dead. There was an explosion. I lost my sister right away and my mom passed away from injuries a few months later. So I came to live with Tony, who's my new dad and Pepper, my new mom."

"Okay. So now can you show me what you've got there, punk?" Bucky asked Steve.

"I don't know. Tony didn't really say much."

"These are family albums. Or extended family," Tony said.

Steve looked at the pictures on the pages, "But that's Peggy and her husband. I thought they had no kids?" He said pointing to a picture of the couple with a little boy.

"Harley's not the only one who had a bunch of heroes for Aunts and Uncles growing up. Aunt Peggy and Uncle Daniel (**From Agent Carter)** were around a lot. All the commandos were. They came over for a large reunion every Christmas. I didn't know some of them as well as others, but they were still family. I don't know why I never figured out Aunt Peggy and Dad were running SHIELD. In retrospect they were pretty obvious."

"You called her Aunt Peggy? Uncle Steve's old girlfriend was your Aunt?" Harley laughed.

Tony and Steve turned red. Bucky laughed too, "Let me guess, in stories you were told about us we were Uncles too?"

Tony turned even redder, like the color of his suit. "Yeah, pretty much. I was as close with them as I was with Mom, Dad, Jarvis (our butler), and his wife Anna."

"Okay, start from the top explaining this family dynamic. From the Commandos to Harley," Bucky.

"Okay. Dum Dum, Morita and Falsworth stayed bachelors. Gabe married and had two kids, one worked for SHIELD and last I heard his only grandkid did too before it fell. Peggy and Daniel never had kids but she was close with her nephew when her brother died. You probably heard about him because I know you know Sharon," Tony said.

Steve turned red again. Bucky cackled, "Really? Peg's great-niece?"

"Our family's weird," Harley said.

"You could say that again buddy," Steve agreed.


	31. Chapter 31: Aunt May

**Chapter 31: Aunt May**

A few weeks later Bucky was fully situated. He was his old self but more deadly. He found Peter and Pietro funny, he thought they had a lot of potential. Wanda intrested him, she was an enigma and she like him still had red in her ledger. He hadn't met Darcy, Jane or Thor. Vision he found incredible and couldn't quite wrap his head around. He and Rhodey had a mutual respect. Pepper though he thought was the nicest woman ever, she, Harley and Peter were the people that no one in the tower could hold a grudge against. Bruce he didn't see a lot, only for checkups on his arm, but he respected him too. He and Clint were complicated. Bucky still had a thing for Natasha and they had jokingly flirted several times. Clint was starting to feel jealous and upset, knowing he couldn't compete with someone with that much history. Nat had noticed it, and was trying to assure Clint that it meant nothing. Finally that was settled when Clint took a stave from the training room. When he was sparring with Bucky he hit the other man across the head with it.

"Cognitive recalibration. It should help you with anything Wanda and Tony haven't cleared out."

Natasha, who was on the sidelines, cracked up confusing just about everyone. After that Bucky backed off and the couple was happy again.

The only other person he had any trouble with was Sam. The two men meant a lot to Steve. They shared a grudging respect but fought over who was a better friend a lot. Steve however was oblivious to this. Both agreed to tentantively respect each other in front of him and the others. Otherwise the ex-assasin was getting used to life in the tower, he got his arm fixed up, and learnt more about the modern world.

Harley had gone back to school. On Tony's orders there was more security and Peter was watching him closely. People who had mocked him before approached him and tried to become his friends. He ignored them, just continuing to hang with the people who had already like him. His friends had been a bit angry in the beginning, but once Harley explained and apologized 1000 more times then he needed to they put it past them. Instead focusing on making sure their friend wasn't bothered by jerks who only cared about him because he was rich.

In other news Clint and Natasha were still having no luck and were starting to get upset. The team as a whole had not been able to find a lot on the new SHIELD and were trying to get back into contact with Fury and Hill. Fury couldn't be contacted and apparently Hill was undercover for the CIA. All they had found was a few crude images from fights around the world and a large one in Puerto Rico. Clint and Natasha identified a few people they knew. Like Bobbi Morse, Lance Hunter and Melinda May.

Peter had only been back to the tower once since the day after he babysat Harley. That was to meet Bucky. Like always Peter trained with the Avengers. When sparring with Bucky, the ex-assasin had thrown a punch with his metal arm. Peter caught it, then noticed the arm was metal for the first time.

Twisting it around, while Bucky was still trying to fight Peter started spouting questions. "Dude, you have a metal arm! That's so cool." Then he continued to ask the same question as Harley had before.

At the end of that day, before Peter went home or on patrol, Tony had pulled him over to talk to him. The teen was in the process of pulling his mask on when Tony had asked him to talk. Confused Peter agreed.

"I think this is the calmest it's gonna be for a while. The situation with the media and Harley has been mostly figured out, same with Bucky and we can't find anything on SHIELD for now. So how about tomorrrow we bring your aunt over. I'll call her to tell her I want to talk to her and assure her it's nothing bad. Then we'll have some of the people in the tower sit down with her while you tell her."

"I don't want everyone there. That would overwhelm her."

"Agreed. How about the orginal team, except Thor. Plus Pepper."

"The other's won't mind will they?"

"No, you can introduce her to everyone after. But it's best to do this a little bit at a time."

So that night Tony had dialed the number to the Parker's home phone and spoke to May Parker. "Hi Mrs. Parker, this is Tony Stark."

"Oh, Mr. Stark. Yes, Peter just got home. He stopped by the library after leaving you. Let me go get him."

"Actually, I'd like to speak to you."

"Is something wrong? Did Peter do something that-"

"No. Not at all. Peter's one of the best kids I've ever met and he has a real future in his field. (Both fields, thought Tony as he spoke.) I've been talking to Peter about showing you the work he's been doing here. So because tomorrow is a Sunday we were wondering if you wanted to come with him."

"Yes, I'd be very happy to do that. It sounds very exciting. Tomorrow you said?"

"Yes. Do you need to be picked up?"

"It's very kind of you to offer but I believe we'll be okay. Yes, tomorrow should work."

"Great. We'll see you then."

The next morning Peter and Aunt May arrived at the tower. He led her to the elevator and to the Common Floor where Tony had told them to meet him. Waiting there were the people that Peter and Tony agreed would be there the other day.

"Hi Mrs. Parker, it's very nice to meet you in person," Tony said shaking her hand.

"Call me May. I agree, it's high time I saw where Peter has been spending so much of his time."

"So before we show you around let me introduce everyone. Because Avengers Tower is the same place that SI operates out of in New York Peter has been working near a lot of the Avengers. They've actually gotten to know him quite well. So we've all been excited to meet you."

"You never told me that," she scolded Peter.

"Sorry, it's a lot to take in. Introductions!" he said changing the subject.

"Right, as you know I'm Tony Stark. This here is the wonderful Pepper Potts, my girlfriend and CEO of SI." The genius introduced hisself and his girlfriend.

"I'm Steve Rogers, or Captain America if you prefer. May I just say it's a pleasure to meet you m'aam."

"So you really are the same Captain America as in the forties? Because they certainly don't teach manners like that anymore," gushed Aunt May.

"No they don't. I'm the Black Widow, known inside the tower as Natasha Romanoff-Barton. This is my partner and husband Clint."

The archer waved.

""We only learnt they were married two months ago," Tony interjected.

"While we were fighting Ultron," Bruce agreed. "I guess I'm the last one, I'm Dr. Bruce Banner. I guess you could also call me the Hulk. And if you'd like me to leave now I'd understand."

"Leave? Whatever for?" Aunt May asked.

"Bruce thinks he's dangerous. But everyone in the tower knows Hulk would never harm anyone here," Peter explained.

"Enough of this. Poor May has been standing this whole time why don't we sit down and start doing what we're meant to be doing today," Pepper said. She gestured to the couches behind them.

"I thought we were seeing Peter's work here at the labs?" May asked as Peter led her to a couch and sat down beside her.

"Peter does more here at the tower than just work in the labs," Natasha explained.

"Really?" Aunt May asked. "All he's told me is that he helped you with your adoptive son Harley. Peter likes spending time with him. Seeing them together while Peter had him at our house while you must have been in Sokovia was quite endearing."

"They're two peas in a pod. Honestly they act so much alike sometimes I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if they didn't look different," Tony said.

"Aunt May I haven't been telling you the whole truth. I just didn't want to scare you and I'm really sorry. All those times I've said I was at the Library, at a friends house studying or any other excuse were lies. Actually I've been..."

"I know Peter," she told her nephew. "You've never been very good at keeping secrets. I only put the pieces together a few months ago."

"I'm not sure you that you understand what I wanted to tell you. Aunt May I'm-"

"You're Spiderman. Peter, how oblivious do you think I am?" She laughed.

"You knew? And you're okay with it?" he asked flabbergasted. The other Avengers stayed quiet. This was kind of funny.

"Not necessarily, but I trust you. You've always been responsible and you're doing good. So I couldn't be I do wish you had told me."

"You're right to be proud," said Clint, "He's done so much good. Even for us."

"He saved my son's life from Hydra and kept him from the paparazzi," Pepper said. "Harley idolizes him."

"He didn't only save Harley. He picked up Mjolnir when Ultron first appeared and saved us all," Steve said.

"Mjolnir is Thor's hammer," Peter told his Aunt blushingly.

"The hammer that can be picked up by the people that it judges worthy of the power of Thor. Which is only you, not even Steve was able to pick up the hammer," Natasha said.

"He also has a real future in science. Your nephew has one of the most gifted minds I've seen in years," Bruce told May. "It's a pleasure working with him in the lab and I think I learn just as much from him as he does from me. Plus the Hulk likes him."

"That's an understatement. I wasn't able to get out of his hug for three hours. Anytime anyone told him to put me down he told them I was his bugman," Peter laughed. Bruce blushed.

"Nothing around the tower would be the same without him," Tony said. "We really love having him around here."

"Like we often say it's like having another version of you, Steve and Natasha," Clint laughed.

"Back to the point, we only found out Peter was Spiderman when Ultron showed up. That's because we've only seen one person besides Thor able to lift the Hammer," explained Steve not wanting to get into the whole mess of them explaining that love child joke again.

"Since then we've made sure that Peter reports to one of us before and after patrol. He wears a tracker and has to call us for back up if anything more than a regular street criminal shows up. He also has to have checkups with Bruce for any injuries he receives on the jobs and we work together on making sure that all his devices are working well before he does anything," Tony said.

"Thank you for all of that, and for getting him to tell me. Peter's been a lot happier lately and I suppose that's because of what he does here," May's voice cracked as she spoke.

"It is, but it makes me even happier that you're okay with it," laughed the teen.

"We're happier too. Peter's pretty much been adopted by Tony, Pepper, Clint and Natasha. I'm pretty sure they're all jealous of you," Steve said.

"We are," admitted Natasha, "Recently it seems like Clint and I have adopted three teens. We're happy with the relationship we have with Pietro, Wanda and Peter which is strange and unconventional. We've also been arranging to actually adopt when we find the right kid."

"Basically Natasha and Pepper want parenting advice from you, but girl talk later. Let's show May around," Tony said getting up.

"Come, I want to show you how I make my webs!" Peter exclaimed to his laughing Aunt.


	32. Chapter 32: The Right Kid

**AN: In the Comics Kate Bishop is a hero. Her father is a rich socialite who is also a huge jerk. His second wife is only around 2 years older than his daughter, they went to school together. Obviously that's not the way I'm writing it in my story. Kate becomes one of the Young Avengers and also Hawkeye's partner Hawkeye. Who could be a better kid for Clintasha? **

"This is Derek Bishop, he's a jerkface." Tony put a picture on the table to show Clint and Natasha. "He's also a very rich Manhattan socialite who I have to be nice too. He called me because he thought that a pary he's holding might bring trouble. So he wants some extra security. Pepper told me it'd be bad for business relations to say no and it'd cause bad PR if any one shows up in costume."

"So?" Natasha asked.

"So you and Clint are going there in the guise of showing support from the Avengers for this charity that this party is to raise money for. It is a good cause and a little more security might not be bad."

"Great, I need to shmooze with more stuck up billionaires," Clint moaned.

"Hey!" Tony put his hand to his heart in pretend offense.

"At least you don't have to wear a fancy dress, but this might be nice. It could be a date, we haven't had one of those in a while," Natasha consoled him.

"Fine!" Clint conceded.

A few hours later both were drinking champagne at the bar in a ballroom. Natasha was dressed in a long black dress with slits up to her thighs. She wore a silver arrow necklace around her throat and long earrings to accompany it. Clint was in a black suit, with a black button up shirt and purple tie. They were both sitting at a bar, surveilling the room. Natasha had guns strapped to both thighs. Clint had stashed bows and arrows in several places around the room before the party. Including under the bar table.

A man approached them and turned a charming smile on Natasha, "I'm Derek Bishop. This is my daughter Kate. Thank you so much for agreeing to come."

"It was our pleasure," Natasha told the business man hiding her disgust as his eyes wandered to a girl who couldn't be much older than 18. She turned her eyes to the little girl. Kate's dark hair was dressed up in a fancy bun that looked to sophisticated for a child of her age. She wore a cute dark purple dress and was looking at both Clint and Natasha in awe.

"How old are you Kate?"

"I'm seven," replied the little girl. She then looked at Clint, "I like your tie."

"Thanks," he chuckled, "Purple isn't only a color for beautiful little girls."

Kate blushed, "Thank you."

She looked around, "Did you see where my daddy went?"

Natasha looked around. She had been so entranced by the little girl that she hadn't noticed Derek Bishop going to flirt with a young women, or the people that had entered the party. Now that she was looking she did.

"Kate, go hide, okay?" she told the little girl keeping her hand by her waist ready to draw her gun. Clint reached under the bar discreetly for his bow.

Derek Bishop was being held at gunpoint in the middle of the room. Men in black were rounding everyone in the room into a circle at gunpoint. One held open a sack.

"Jewelery, wallets, watches, any valuables in here. Then you-" the man with the gun at Mr. Bishop's head said, "- take me to your safe and open it up. Understood?"

People started to drop jewelery into the sack. Watches and wallets tumbled in one after the other. Clint tried to pull out his bow before they got to them, but Natasha stopped him.

"To many variables right now," she whispered. "We'll wait till everyone gives over their stuff and they take Bishop to his safe. Then we'll have only one person to save and others to take down. Everyone will get their stuff back too."

Clint nodded. It made sense but Natasha's plan didn't factor in one detail. The greediness of a socialite. The robbers reached a stately woman but she didn't hand over anything.

"Give it over. Now!"

"No."

The woman's replied angered the men. A shot fired and Derek Bishop fell to the floor dead. Clint looked at Natasha who nodded. She drew her glocks and he grabbed his bow.

"Well what do we have here?" said the leader stepping over Bishop's body for a better look. "Avengers. Unexpected but it can be handled."

One fired at Natasha who flipped out of the way. In a second she was on the man, flipping him over her shoulder. Another man was kicked with her impressive black stilettos where the sun don't shine.

Clint took down another two men with his arrows. One explosive one shot at a gun. It Then one shot his arm and managed to knock his bow out of his hand. It clattered across the floor. With a broken arm he got back up and started to fight hand to hand. Till a fist struck his ear. Something clattered to the floor. His eyes widened and Natasha screamed his name but he couldn't hear her. Still he sensed her panic and turned towards her. That was his mistake, she was fine just worried for him. While he was distracted a man knocked Clint out with the butt of his gun. Clint crumpled to the floor. Derek Bishop's blood soaked the floor where he lay.

Natasha let out a feral snarl of outrage. Two more men went down. Five others were flipped, strangled with thighs, kicked and punched till only the leader was left. Natasha turned towards him with her gun in her hand.

"Uh uh uh!" the man wagged his finger at her. A dazed Clint was being held up by the man, with his arm around his neck. A gun was to his head. The man looked at Natasha's gun and gestured by craning his head to the ground, "Down! Now! Drop it all or I kill him."

Nat cursed in russian but did as ordered. "Good," smiled the leader of the thiefs, "Now I'm going to go out. You won't call the police or anyone else for at least a half hour."22

"No!" shouted a small voice. Little Kate had a fierce expression on her face. Jumping from her hiding spot she charged. She slid across the floor on her side. Still in motion, she grabbed Clint's already loaded bow and fired.

The man's unbelieving laugh turned into a cry of pain as he dropped Clint and fell to the floor clutching his hand. His gun was picked up from the floor by Natasha. She grabbed the arrow that pierced his hand with an unforgiving smile.

"It hurts more coming out than going in."

With a yank the blood arrow was out of his hand and dropped to the floor. A knee to head and he was unconscious with a broken and bloody nose.

"Fanks, Nat," Clint mumbled. Natasha nodded but her eyes were focused on the crying little girl whos beautiful puprple dress was stained with blood. She kept staring as the police dragged the 7-year-old away, as she and Clint answered all the polices' questions. It passed as if in a daze, she barely even noticed when they arrived back at the tower, after being driven through the chilly night by one of Stark's drivers. When she and Clint sat together in the medbay being wrapped up by Bruce she barely noticed.

Till Clint signed to her with his hands, "What's wrong?"

"That girl."

"Kate?"

"Yeah. Get some rest, we'll talk later." She stopped signing and spoke with her voice, "Bruce, where's Tony?"

"Upstairs on his floor going over the reports. He and Pepper were going over some PR stuff from Harley's exposure at school once they got Harley in bed. Then the news of what happened came in," Bruce told her.

"Thanks," she replied. Clint was falling asleep beside her, she gave him a kiss then headed upstairs to find Tony. He was surrounded by a bunch of virtrual reports and videos from several news channels. Pepper was sitting there doing her own work looking up concerned every once in awhile.

"Natasha, I heard Clint got shot? Are you guys okay?" Pepper asked.

"We'll be fine. Do you mind if I borrow Tony for a minute? I need to ask him something."

"I'll go check on Harley," Pepper kissed Tony on the cheek, shut his and her files then walked down the hall.

"What's up?" Tony asked sitting down. Natasha looked dazed and worried, not at all like her usual self.

"How did you know that it was Harley?" she blurted out.

"What?" Tony's eyebrows knitted together.

"How did you know that Harley was THE kid. What made you decide to adopt? To take in a kid at all?"

"You know what happened with the mandarin and extremis. Pepper and I were the most stable we had been ever but we never talked about having kids or even adopting some. Harley, though, he had helped me when I needed help the most. Like he always says we're connected, there's something between the two of us that bonds us. From the very first time we met I knew there was something special about the kid. So when everything calmed down I checked up on him and made arrangments with his mother before she died. Then he we are."

"You're connected?"

"That's how he puts it. I guess that's how parents feel meeting their newborn kid for the first time. There's just something there."

"Thanks," Natasha said getting up.

"Hey Nat?"

"Yeah?"

"This is about the Bishop girl. Katherine, right?" Tony asked.

"Kate, or Katie and I guess it is," she said.

"Good Luck."

"Thanks."

She went back down to the medbay and looked at the sleeping Clint. With a small smile and the decision to discuss this with him in the morning she cuddled up in the hospital bed beside him.

Clint woke the next morning to see a mop of redhair lying on his arm. Pulling Natasha closer he squinted and looked around. Right, he winced, he had been shot and knocked unconscious. He felt slightly alarmed realizing he had not heard Natasha's breath moving her chest up and down, only seen it and felt it against his arm. Reaching his non-injured arm he foiund his spare pair of hearing aids, thankfully left there by Natasha the night before. Putting them in he heard Natasha move and turn toward him.

"Morning."

"Morning," she replied. "Feeling better?"

"I've been worse," he said. There was no use in lying. "You wanna tell me what that was about last night?" he asked her concerned.

"I went to ask Tony why he decided to adopt, why Harley?"

"Because of Kate?" he asked with a sad smile.

"You felt it too? It's not just me?" she asked.

"Did you see that shot? Of course I did! I have a feeling she's just as much of a spitfire as you."

"That's why I asked Tony. He told me from the minute he and Harley met it was as if they were connected. Somehow it was always meant to be this way," Natasha said.

"The question is how to we get to her? Does she have other family she's going to? Will she be allowed to come with us? Will she want to come with us? Does she blame us for what happened to her dad?" Clint started talking faster as he listed the problems, ticking each one off on his finger.

"We'll be fine. We'll figure this out," Natasha smiled.

"You will," Tony said walking in. "Sorry to disrupt but I have some info on baby BlackHawk."

"Is that what you're calling her? Couldn't come up with something better?" Natasha smirked.

"I like it," chuckled Clint. "Sounds bad***."

"Right?" Tony laughed too, "Okay, so Katherine Bishop. Age 8. Her mom died in a skiing accident when Kate was five. Her dad was a bit of a jerk from what I've seen, flirting with woman not much older than teenagers and thinking he's above everyone else."

"That last part sounds like you," Natasha high fived Clint.

"Okay, but I've reformed. So she has no relatives that might want to take her in. As for the archery, well she's been kidnapped. It's not uncommon for kids of her social standing, trust me. Apparently she took up archery and self defense classes and is uncommonly good for a little kid," Tony said showing them some files to back this up.

"Honestly, it's like someone put this kid in the world with us in mind," cackled Clint.

"I just wish she didn't have to come to us in this situation," Natasha agreed somberly.

"Last thing, you guys were worried about her and the whole superhero situation, right? Because I sure know I felt that way when Pepper and I first adopted Harley around a year and a half ago."

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just look," Tony showed them his tablet with a wide smile. Standing on the screen in a black catsuit not unlike Natasha's stood Kate. She wore purple tinted shades and a similiar colored arrow adorned her chest. A bow was slung across her back but on her wrists were copies of the widow's bites in black. Natasha looked at it and her face softened, she almost cooed. Tony stared, "Are we sure this is Nat? She's not even like this with Peter or the twins."

"She is with my nieces and nephews though," Clint laughed.

"Sure... Now that you're sure about this how about we start making those neccessary calls?" asked Tony.

"Lets do it."


End file.
